Revised 1/1/20
Is internet infidelity different?
Not really…and yes, Online infidelity is very different.
Spouses engage in Internet Infidelity for the same reasons as real-life infidelity.
It distracts from life-transitions, soothes feelings of stress and loneliness, and provides an on-demand antidote to the relational resentments with real-life partners (Brown, 2001).
Before the internet, Bowen (1978) said that the wellspring of infidelity was the need to manage anxiety and cope with poor self-esteem.
However, Unlike real-world affair partners, Internet Affair partners can offer a felt sense of emotional support, excitement, and validation on-demand… while demanding precious little in return.
The internet is also a perfect playground in which to act out narcissistic fantasies of a “perfect ideal self.”
One thing that online infidelity does superbly is that it allows for each participant to project their ideal, perfect love fantasies onto a willing and available “other” (Cooper, Scherer, et al.,1999).
Lacking either the motivation or the willingness to work on their marriage, cyber-sex, and cyber-relationships can quickly fill in the cracks between a distant and cold couple. Cyber-affairs and cyber-sex excite and stimulate. They offer a sense of being more fully vibrant and alive. They provide a sense of intimate connection at the click of a button.
Internet infidelity demands little if any authentic emotional exposure. It encourages you to hone and perfect ideal erotic or romantic fantasies. And they are also an authoritative source of validation and boost self-esteem (Atwood, 2005).
Another way online infidelity is profoundly different is how it distorts time.
The immediacy of chatting and messaging has an accelerating effect on the brain. While dates in the real world are constrained by time and space, Internet Infidelity speeds up this felt sense of intimacy.
Many cases of online infidelity begin innocently enough, perhaps around a common interest, maybe even a shared difficulty. There are online support groups and Facebook forums for every conceivable human condition or tragedy.
But flirtation and compliments often accelerate into “trying on” new personas that become increasingly addictive. This reinforcement is constrained only by how willing the participants are to remain engaged with one another (Lieblum & Dooring, 2002).
Online infidelity plays out in similar ways to real-world cheating.
Secrecy, deception, and minimizing behaviors tend to be quite similar (Maheu & Sabotnik, 2001). The allure of the internet infidelity is unencumbered by the demands that populate the real world.
There is no child to take to the doctor. No trash to take out. Nobody snores, burps, or smells on the internet. Cyber-sex is always perfect.
At Couples Therapy Inc., we often speak with spouses who are tormented and baffled by their partner’s laser-like focus on their internet affair partner.
Hurt Partners want to know why.
One of the reasons is that online infidelity intimacy demands are incredibly low, but the feeling of being seen and known can be profoundly high.
Virtual romance distorts the mind into feeling a sense of intimacy that is incredibly powerful, even though the internet couple has never met in person, or, as in the case of Facebook Affairs, perhaps once dated 20 or 30 years ago.
“Real intimacy requires the capacity to stay emotionally connected to intimate partners during anxious times while taking a position for self, based on one’s belief’s values, and principles.” David Schnarch.
Intimacy is hard work. In the real world, you only get to work hard to be your best self. Not merely display your idealized self.
And you have to work at it. Who has time for that?
The following 11 signs of Internet Infidelity are courtesy of researchers Maheu& Subtnik (2001).
Empirical research on internet infidelity is relatively new but ongoing. A decade ago, Hertlein and Webster (2008) reviewed all of the studies on how technology toxifies intimate relationships. They discovered a gender difference in Internet Infidelity.
Men were far more likely than women to act on these relationships in the real world, and there was a surprisingly high level of emotional involvement. One of the questions that came up was whether or not couples therapists need particular new expertise with technology-driven online infidelity.
We now know that healing from internet infidelity is more similar than different from real-world affair recovery.
Maheu and Subotnik (2001) proposed that recovery from Internet Infidelity was a 4-step process.
There is a unique feature of online infidelity that requires specific mention. Unlike real-world affairs, Internet infidelity is often documented in transcripts. This remains a controversial area for couples therapists.
Some therapists see full disclosure as the Holy Grail of any sort of affair recovery. But because of the sheer volume of information, other researchers (Brown, 2001; Maheu& Subotnik, 2001) are concerned that the triggering impact on the Hurt Partner is often too substantial a burden.
I fall back on what one of my heroes, Michelle Weiner-Davis, taught me last summer about affair recovery. No two Hurt Partners are precisely alike. Information that might be triggering to one might calm another Hurt Partner down.
The best stance is for the partner who was engaged with Internet Infidelity to assume a posture of openness and transparency.
The couples therapist is in the best position (because of careful assessment) to help the Hurt partner find the center of gravity between transparency and the tipping point of “knowing enough.”
This requires a stellar therapeutic bond with the couple, as any wavering inconsistency from the involved Partner will toxically feed the inconsolability of the Hurt Partner.
It’s also important to mention that there is an essential behavioral component to Internet Infidelity repair work with couples. But the therapist cannot be too directive on this. The couple should be encouraged to craft their own behavioral agreement.
Monitoring or blocking software is often a tool used in these agreements (Reid & Gray, 2006). But it can be problematic if the therapist brings this up too soon in the couples therapy process.
Why? Because the Involved Partner’s shame might interfere with the effort to establish a sound therapeutic bond. Solutions should not be given… they should be arrived at in the context of a total relational overhaul. Labeling the Involved Partner as the “designated patient” addicted to online infidelity is a losing strategy.
Affair recovery is often a leap of faith. And at first, perhaps the only faith in the room may be between the individual partners themselves and their couples therapist.
References:
Online infidelity is a serious problem that researchers keenly focused on:
Anonymous. (2005). 14 tips to follow when having an affair. Retrieved January 12, 2006, from http://thestoriesyoucannottell.blogspot.com/2006/ 01/14-tips-to-follow-when-having-affair.html
Atwood, J. D., & Schwartz, L. (2002). Cybersex: The new affair treatment considerations. Journal of Couple and Relationship Therapy, 1(3), 37-56.
Barak, A., & Fisher, W. A. (2002). The future of Internet sexuality. In A. Cooper (Ed.), Sex and the Internet: A guidebook for clinicians (pp. 260-280). New York: Brunner-Routledge. [Google Scholar]
Bowen, M. (1978). Family therapy in clinical practice. Hillsdale, NJ: Jason Aronson. Carnes, P. J. (2003). The anatomy of arousal: Three Internet portals. Sexual and Relationship Therapy, 18, 309-328.
Cooper, A. (Ed.). (2002). Sex and the Internet: A guidebook for clinicians. New York: Brunner-Routledge. Cooper, A., Mansson, S., Daneback, K., Tikkanen, R., & Ross, M. W. (2003). Predicting the future of Internet sex: Online sexual activities in Sweden. Sexual and Relationship Therapy, 18, 277-291.
Cooper, A., McLoughlin, I. P., & Campbell, K. M. (2000). Sexuality in cyberspace: Update for the 21st century. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 3, 521-536.
Cooper, A., Morahan-Martin, J., Mathy, R. M., & Maheu, M. (2002). Toward an increased understanding of user demographics in online sexual activity. Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy, 28, 105-129.
Cooper, A., Scherer, C. R., Boies, S. C., & Gordon, B. L. (1999). Sexuality on the Internet: From sexual exploration to pathological expression. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 30(2), 154-164. [Google Scholar]
Delmonico, D. L., Griffin, E., & Carnes, P. J. (2002). Treating online compulsive sexual behavior: When cybersex is the drug of choice. In A. Cooper (Ed.), Sex and the Internet: A guidebook for clinicians (pp. 147-167). New York: Brunner-Routledge.
Glass, S. P. (2003). Not “just friends”: Protect your relationship from infidelity and heal the trauma of betrayal. New York: Free Press. Gonyea, J. L. (2004). Internet sexuality: Clinical implications for couples. American Journal of Family Therapy, 32, 375-390.
Greenfield, D. N. (1999). Virtual addiction: Sometimes new technology can create new problems. Retrieved September 28, 2005, from http://www .virtual-addiction.com/pdf/nature_internet_addiction.pdf
Hatala, M. N., Milewski, K., & Baack, D. W. (1999). Downloading love: A content analysis of Internet personal ads placed by college students. College Student Journal, 33(1), 124-129.
Henline, B. H., & Lamke, L. K. (2003, November). The experience of sexual and emotional online infidelity. Poster presented at the 65th annual conference of the National Council on Family Relations, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Hertlein, K. M. (2004). Internet infidelity: An examination of family therapist treatment decisions and gender biases. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg.
Hertlein, K. M., & Piercy, F. P. (2005). A theoretical framework for defining, understanding, and treating Internet infidelity. Journal of Couple and Relationship Therapy, 4(1), 79-91.
Hertlein, K. M., & Weeks, G. R. (in press). Two roads diverging in a wood: The current state of infidelity research and treatment. Journal of Couple and Relationship Therapy.
Hubble, M. A., Duncan, B. L., & Miller, S. D. (2004). The heart & soul of change: What works in therapy.Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Leiblum, S., & Döring, N. (2002). Internet sexuality: Known risks and fresh chances for women. In A. Cooper (Ed.), Sex and the Internet: A guidebook for clinicians (pp. 19-45). New York: Brunner-Routledge.
6. Lewis A. The concept of online infidelity. Couns Aust. 2003;3:120–3. [Google Scholar]
Maheu, M. M., & Subotnik, R. B. (2001). Infidelity on the Internet. Naperville, IL: Sourcebooks.
Nelson, T., Piercy, F., & Sprenkle, D. (2005). Internet infidelity: A multiwave Delphi Study. Journal of Couple and Relationship Therapy, 4(2/3), 173-194.
Mileham BL. Online infidelity in Internet chat rooms: An ethnographic exploration. Comput Human Behav. 2007;23:11–31. [Google Scholar]
Ross, M. W., & Kauth, M. R. (2003). Men who have sex with men, and the Internet: Emerging clinical issues and their management. In A. Cooper (Ed.), Sex and the Internet: A guidebook for clinicians (pp. 47-69). New York: Brunner-Routledge.
Ross, M. W., Mansson, S. A., Daneback, K., & Tikkanen, R. (2005). Characteristics of men who have sex with men on the Internet but identify as heterosexual, compared with heterosexually identified men who have sex with women. Cyberpsychology & Behavior, 8(2), 131-139.
Schnarch, D. (1997). Passionate couples. New York: Norton. Schnarch, D., & Morehouse, R. (2002, September-October). Online sex, dyadic crises, and pitfalls for MFTs. Family Therapy Magazine, pp. 14-19.
Schneider, J. P. (2000a). Effects of cybersex addiction on the family: Results of a survey. Sexual Addiction and Compulsivity, 2, 12-33.
Schneider, J. P. (2000b). A qualitative study of cybersex participants: Gender differences, recovery issues, and implications for therapists. Sexual Addiction & Compulsivity, 7, 249-278.
4. Schneider J. The new Elephant in the living room: Effects of compulsive cybersex behaviors on the spouse. In: Cooper A, editor. Sex and the Internet: A guidebook for clinicians. New York: Brunner-Routledge; 2002. pp. 169–86. [Google Scholar]
Shaw, J. (1997). Treatment rationale for Internet infidelity. Journal of Sex Education and Therapy, 22(1), 29-34.
Underwood, H., & Findlay, B. (2004). Internet relationships and their impact on primary relationships. Behaviour Change, 21(4), 127-140.
Whitty, M. T. (2003). Pushing the wrong buttons: Men’s and women’s attitudes toward online and offline infidelity. CyberPsychology and Behavior, 6, 569-579.
Whitty, M. T. (2004). Cyber-flirting: An examination of men’s and women’s flirting behaviour both offline and on the Internet. Behaviour Change, 21(2), 115-126.
Whitty, M. T. (2005). The realness of cybercheating: Men’s and women’s representations of unfaithful Internet relationships. Social Science Computer Review, 23(1), 57-67.
Young, K. S., Griffin-Shelley, E., Cooper, A., O’Mara, J., & Buchanan, J. (2000). Online infidelity: A new dimension in couple relationships with implications for evaluation.
Daniel is a Marriage and Family Therapist. He is the Blog Editor. He currently works online seeing couples from Massachusetts at Couples Therapy Inc. He uses EFT, Gottman Method, Solution-focused and the Developmental Model in his approaches.