Cheating in 2019: watch out for Instagram

Afraid that your loved one might not be immune to advances from someone else while out? No need. Cheating is no longer what you think it is.

About 15 to 20 percent of women say they have strayed at some point, compared to about 20 to 25 percent of men. But that straying has changed a bit over time. You no longer have to make a scene in a bar if your partner is chatting with someone else, and you also don’t have to lie awake if he/she comes home late from a party: cheating just happens while lounging on the couch. Lying next to you in bed can also happen. On Instagram, that is. Or Snapchat, Facebook, and Tinder, for the real enthusiasts among us.

That moment when you see out of the corner of your eye that one half-naked photo after another is being liked by some random stranger: you can bet something is going on. Suddenly busy sending ‘DMs‘. Busy with an ’image‘ on ’The Gram’. That inbox on Facebook also gets clicked away more and more when you plop down next to it. Since we are dating online more than ever, online cheating is also trendier than ever. You no longer have to peek under the bed to see if you might find a lost rubber band or a bracelet that isn’t yours. You don’t have to sniff around in clothes. No, all you need is the password to your loved one’s phone.

In a third of couples who break up, social media is a culprit, it turns out. In other words: those cheating people flirt with others via social media and sneakily check ‘further afield’. They want to see how they stand in the market before they definitively end things at home. Just a little bit of that safe haven of the relationship but online pretending to be single: ouch. Certainly eight percent of men who cheat find a new flame on social media. And 90 percent of people who have found a fling online look happily for more online after a breakup. In short: flirting on the screen is addictive.

All fun and games, this whole fuss with attractive pictures on Insta, but also not so fun and games, unfortunately.