Is Online Infidelity Cheating?

from the certainly-sounds-like-it dept

For the past couple of years there have been stories every so often about how internet relationships are the leading cause of divorce these days. In general, I tend to think that it's not the internet relationship that's causing the divorce, but that the relationship is the result of other factors within the marriage that lead to one (or both) of the partners to seek outside comfort. However, now the debate is raging on about whether or not online relationships are considered "cheating"? Many people say it's not because there's no touching involved - and sometimes people don't even know each others' real names. Again, this seems like a debate on the semantics, rather than the actual issue. It doesn't really matter if it's defined as cheating or not, if the real issue is that there are problems in the actual marriage.
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  • identicon
    Matt Garrett, 11 Nov 2003 @ 7:49am

    CHEATING ONLINE

    Well, it doesn't really matter what you think. It matters what your spouse thinks. And I know my wife well enough to know that if I would rather spend time in a relationship with someone else whether online or not - whether it's sex, cybersex or no sex - it's CHEATING.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      kristine, 26 May 2004 @ 10:55am

      Re: CHEATING ONLINE

      i agree with you on cheating..but i have a few questions.. how do i know for sure if it has happend? is there some way to find traces of things in my computer? if u have any advise please email me back!

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Dr.Laura, 11 Nov 2003 @ 9:23am

    No Subject Given

    Men often get caught up in visual pornography, while women often get caught up in this type of emotional pornography.

    I've known a few anecdotal stories of women who started chatting with someone and eventually it ruined their marriage, but I had know idea it was near 30% of these chat relationships that turn into real-world affairs.

    If anything (porn, chatting with men, drinking, or even gossipping with your mother) becomes more important to someone than their spouse, that marriage could use some improvement. -filling voids/needs outside of matrimony, only makes things worse.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 11 Nov 2003 @ 1:20pm

    No Subject Given

    I know its uncouth to metion religious sources on a tech board, but this seems like applicable wisdom, regardless or your religious affiliation (or lack thereof):

    "whososever [chatteth with] a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart" -Matthew 5:28 (hopefully my paraphrasing doesn't earn me a lightning bolt :-) )

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Jo, 10 Dec 2003 @ 6:49pm

    No Subject Given

    If you have to hide it, it's cheating.

    link to this | view in chronology ]


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