You can cheat on someone without laying a finger on someone else. Cheating is all about intent, which is why emotional cheating is often more devastating than a physical affair. Personally, I think I'd be more forgiving of a sexual encounter because that's just sex and sex doesn't always mean anything more than an orgasm. Getting all tangled up with someone emotionally is altogether different. Distancing yourself is altogether different, too. All the little ways people cheat without having sex still add up and easily result in the demise of the relationship.
1 Sexting with Anyone
If you're trying to get off with someone else, you're pretty much kind of cheating, you know? You're not technically having sex, but still.
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2 Creating Profiles on Dating Apps
Don't say you're just trying to see what's out there because … well, why? If you're that curious about what you're missing, you maybe shouldn't be in a relationship in the first place.
3 And Using Them
This is even worse, though. It may never come to anything, but if you use an app to hook up with other people, you have the intent to cheat.
4 Creating Alternate Personas Online
Ditto, plus it's catfishing and catfishing is never cool.
5 Taking Flirtation Too Far with a Friend
People flirt. That's not a big deal. Flirting can go too far, though, and you know when it's reached that point.
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Flirting with a friend might seem harmless, but when it crosses a line, it can jeopardize your friendship and your existing relationship. It starts off innocently enough: a playful banter here, a lingering gaze there. But when you're saving your most charming quips for them, or feeling that electric charge during incidental touches, you're treading into dangerous territory. Shared secrets and inside jokes morph into private texting sessions that you hide from your partner. The excitement of this subtle, emotional foray can often be as powerful and damaging as a physical affair.
6 Comparing Your Partner to Someone You're Interested in
It's never fair to compare your partner to anyone. Comparing her/him to someone else you have feelings for, however, that's just wrong.
7 Thinking about Someone else during Sex with Your Partner
I don't mean thinking about a celebrity or someone you simply fantasize about, obviously. If you're physically imagining someone you've wanted to be with, though, that's like cheating by proxy.
8 Carrying on a Virtual Relationship
Long-term texting relationships are increasingly common. You may never do anything physical and you may do it under the guise of friendship or flirtation, but it can cross a line into more serious territory.
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When you start sharing secrets, dreams, and fears over the screen, your heart gets intertwined. The messages might be innocent at first—a joke, a meme, an update—and then they evolve into late-night deep dives into your psyche. Before you know it, you're waiting for their notification like it's the highlight of your day. That connection becomes a sanctuary, potentially more intimate than a physical one. There lies the heartbreak—you're emotionally entangled with someone who may remain just pixels on a screen.
9 Withholding Sex Because You're Thinking of Someone else
For instance, if you have a crush on someone other than your partner and refuse to sleep with your partner because you feel like you'd be cheating on your crush, that's … well, kind of cheating, isn't it?
10 Sending Photos
Sending risque photos, that is. Sharing nude photos with anyone other than your partner is just … no.
11 Sending Videos
Same.
12 Confiding Solely in Someone else
It's okay to have a friend who's more like your soul mate than your partner. However, when you completely stop confiding in your partner and share your feelings solely with someone else, that's pretty serious.
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When emotional intimacy shifts exclusively to a friend, your bond with your significant other can become compromised. This emotional reliance can sneakily lay the groundwork for a deeper betrayal, even if it's unintentional. Heart-to-heart conversations are pivotal for maintaining closeness in romantic relationships. By outsourcing your emotional needs, it's like forming an invisible wedge between you and your partner. True, it's vital to have a supportive network, but not at the cost of eroding the trust and connection in your romantic life.
13 Telling Someone They Understand You More than Your Partner
First of all, is that true? Because that's not great. Second of all, this is another case where you're comparing your partner to someone else and putting all your feelings outside of your relationship.
14 Pretending That You're Single
You only say this if you wish you were single. There's no other reason.
15 Making Plans to Leave without a Word
This means you're not communicating at all, and once you stop communicating, things are all but done.
16 Exchanging “I Love Yous” with Someone else
For obvious reasons.
17 Lying More Often than You Tell the Truth
Even if you're not interested in someone specific, once you get to this stage, your heart and your mind are somewhere else.
When you start pulling away from your relationship, in whatever way, you've already made a decision that you don't want to be in it anymore. Some people – can some couples – can come back from this, but not all of them. Have you done any of these things? Would it bother you if your partner did?
