The Truth About Infidelity Websites and Unhappy Relationships

July 17, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Just how popular are infidelity websites among those who are in unhappy relationships?

A recent story published by USA today said that websites that offer free membership to married individuals who want to look for other married individuals for purposes of “hooking up” record their highest profits of the year the day after Valentine’s Day. Why?

A person who runs such a website said that, “People are disappointed by their spouse’s lack of effort, and they feel especially undervalued when there is a societal expectation of romance. Certain days of the year act as litmus tests for many people in relationships.”

We tend to force romance into our relationships most of the time just to prove to ourselves that we can be romantic just like everyone else, but it usually doesn’t work and only ends up emphasizing our unhappy relationships. What’s more is, your partner could very well be one of the people who register on infidelity websites without your knowledge.

There are two possible concepts that trigger and increase the disappointment we feel during this particular day:

First being that romance gets too hyped up and it somehow makes us kind of self-centered.

Romantic movies and novels as well as love songs that come out describe romance generally as something between two people where each others’ thoughts and feelings, wants and needs are mirrored back to each other, where you begin to feel like you’re something special and you lose sight of the fact that you are just like everyone else going through the motions of life.
One more reason is because we concentrate on our personal needs. We focus on us – our need for constant attention, our need to be adored, our need to be listened to. And when our partners don’t meet our needs, or don’t do what we expect, we start to become resentful or frustrated towards them, whether we do it consciously or not.

On Valentine’s Day, there is an exaggerated expectation for romance in general. And even when we say that we don’t care whether or husbands or wives do anything special on that particular day, we get swept up in it along with everyone else. So when nothing happens, we become more convinced that our is an unhappy relationship compared to others.

Filed Under: Infidelity and Tolerations, Infidelity Coaching, Infidelity Decisions, Infidelity Fears, Infidelity Help, Infidelity Humor, Infidelity Impact, Marriage Makeover, Online Infidelity, Relationship Tips, Relationships: Marriage, Stopping the Affair Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Facebook Etc. and Online Infidelity of 3 Varieties

February 4, 2010 by Leave a Comment

During a recent winter storm that covered much of the nation, it was reported that the web site, Ashley Madison, signed up 2,500 new members in ONE day. That is huge. Ashley Madison has a membership of 4,000,000.

Ashley Madison is a web site that encourages “hooking up.” It blatantly espouses infidelity, providing a format in which an interested party can find another interested party to have sex.

More and more I encounter coaching clients who struggle with a spouse who signed up on Facebook and eventually connected with an old school friend. Email after email > to phone calls > eventually meeting in real time.

As I work with others affected by internet cheating and as I study and research, what emerges are 3 patterns or themes.

1. I surmise that most of those who signed up for Ashley Madison on that stormy day were curious. I’ve signed up as a trial member to learn and discovered that most members have very incomplete data and seemingly use the site infrequently.

They may be placing their toe in the water to see what the water is like.

In my estimation, this is a dangers first move, especially if hidden from spouse.

2. Others visit chat rooms, sign up for dating sites (claiming they are single) and explore web sites that offer “dating” services. They tell no one. It is a secret. They quickly remove the screen if someone enters the room.

An underlying motive for this behavior is the need to escape. Some have a compelling need to create a fantasy world. It’s as if assuming another personality, another dimension of self, can be played out in chat rooms, emails and other forms of internet services.

These people may struggle with a limited capacity to form an intimate vital relationship with their spouse or someone in “real time.” Or, they may believe they lack this capacity.

And, so they live out another life online.

Much energy and time is often devoted to this pursuit. It becomes an addiction in the true sense of the word.

3. A third and growing trend is to set up a facebook account and reconnect with old school friends, old boy/girl friends or others from that era.

It seems that a high percentage of these encounters develop and emotional intensity is sparked. (My marriage is on the rocks… how about yours, is a common starting point.)

Especially vulnerable to this scenario are those who have unfinished emotional business from adolescence. Commonly: the one who had difficulty dating, the one who had family problems (had to assume parent role, father/mother missing, etc.) that were the focus of concern or the one who struggled with sexual identity during that time.

“Going back” through facebook may be subtly motivated to redo the pain and loss of that period in life.

Are you faced with online cheating? Is your spouse engaged in inappropriate online relationships whether it be Facebook, chat rooms or other internet offerings?

I want to find out more about the specifics of this form of infidelity and create new materials, oriented to this problem.

If so, give this a couple minutes of thought about the most important question(s) you would ask me about internet cheating.

What are your questions? What would you like to know about internet cheating?

Then, I request that you fill out this questionnaire on internet cheating.

Please go to: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/MRV3JKS

Filed Under: Online Infidelity Tagged With: , , ,