to think that technology is the downfall of most relationships?

[2anddone]

H walked out just over a week ago leaving me with 2dc. Since then I have been both posting and lurking on the relationships, divorce and lone parents topics. I have been amazed at how many peoples partners have either been caught out using internet dating/sex sites, sending flirty messages through Facebook and texts/emails. So AIBU to think that now phones and tablets make accessing the internet so easy and that you can't always see what your oh has been looking at especially if the device is passworded to access, its so much easier to cheat on your oh? I mean 30 years ago there were no mobiles etc and it was a real effort to cheat or start an affair and most people would find it too much hassle.
Before anyone points out that there were affairs 30 years ago I already know that (my half brother is 6 months younger than me )

[NandH]

yep, totally agree. my lovely OH has been on date/sex websites...

still havnt forgiven him, never will. still don't trust him, never will. still argue about it. basically my relationship is now pointless because of stupid websites.

[GalaxyDefender]

All it's done is facilitate. If the type of people using those methods to cheat had access to something similar 30 years ago, they'd have been using that instead.

I say from bitter experience that if someone wants to cheat, and has a way to do so without their partner finding out, they will do. 30 years ago people were probably sending illicit love letters to each other instead! It's just easier to find people to cheat with now, sadly.

And while that is awful, it doesn't mean it's the "downfall of relationships". This is going to sound horrible, and isn't a reflection on anyone who has had a partner use these websites, but if they're looking afield, the place they are looking is not the problem. The relationship itself is.

[KittyAndTheFontanelles]

Hi 2anddone. I'm so sorry this has happened to you.

I'm afraid having access to such things does not make people cheat. Being an unfaithful, disrespectful coward will make someone cheat.

You know where we are if you need us in the night

[Trill]

YABVU to think that technology causes relationships to break up.

People cause relationships to break up.

YA especially BU to think that having passwords is the problem.

It's a very sad attitude that you have to think that in general the only reason people don't cheat is lack of opportunity.

[Mehrida]

Poor behaviour causes relationship problems.

Technology enables a lot of the poor behavious, but definitely doesn't cause it.

On the flip side - it also makes it easier to find out. Someone 'working late' couldn't have been caught out by a DP checking their phone/email etc.

Sorry your having such a rotten time though.

[Mehrida]

*behaviour

I blame my fat fingers technology for that one.

[2anddone]

Thanks Kitty and mehrida I also have fat fingers technology problems. H did not leave for 'technological' reasons or because he cheated mainly because he is a twunt that can't cope with being an adult!. I was just really surprised to see how many people on the relationship board 'find out' through technology.

[niceguy2]

Technology has made it easier, undoubtedly. Just in the same way that cars have made it easier for people to cheat too since they can drive further away.

Once upon a time you'd have had to go into a newsagents to buy a 'contact' magazine or pull in a more traditional way of going to a pub/club or seducing a colleague.

Technology is there to be used or abused. Take the Internet in general. Much of the early explosion of the Internet and pace of development was actually driven by porn. It was the porn industry which ventured into online credit card payments first. Ditto with streaming video. It has been people's desire to download illegal/illicit material such as music, films (and porn) which has driven why people have adopted broadband.

At the same time you can use the Internet to surf facebook, chat to people and buy practically anything you want. My point is that it can be good or bad. Just depends on the person who is using it.

In short, technology does not absolve the person's responsibility.

[YohedYoshoulderYonisandYotoes]

I think that technology isn't helping, but not for the same reasons.

Technology allows people to trace and draw inferences from behaviour that used to be managed differently, and forgotten.

For example, one might read an article 'How to have an affair' in an edition of Cosmo, or Closer etc 'How to meet a sexy new partner' or 'How to use a sex toy properly' or (as has been the case) 'Pegging and how to do it' (Metro), in the common room at work. Someone might flirt at a coffee shop, or sit and people watch having mini fantasies about what might happen. Some of these behaviours serve to keep people feeling attractive and stimulated in relationships that might otherwise lose their spark (it can be really nice to have someone flirt with you in a lift or at work and it boosts your confidence nicely!).

Now, though, each one of these behaviours leave an electronic trace that when discovered by someone feeling insecure, in detective mode or just out of context with the mood, massive inferences can be drawn about intention that are sometimes not there.

If I am sitting people watching and fantasising sexually or romantically about people nearby, I could be thinking 'in a minute I am going to go over and kiss that person' or 'if they asks, I would go straight back to their flat and oh what I would do!' but never actually do, or even would really carry it out. - now one can find someone on the internet who will give off similar signals and may join in, knowing full well that there are many stages that have to be gone through to actually carry anything out - that is a big safety blanket and I would suspect that 99% of the flirting/promises made/fantasies expressed to people on the internet are nothing more than self-gratification or ego massage.

I have been involved in several situations where someone reading about pornography at work, has been transposed by employers into actually seeking pornography - sometimes.. in fact mostly.. from articles in popular press or even from the organisation's own website. Those inferences can be used to hint at massive porn use and even child abuse, even if the piece in question is a painting of a nude by a recognised artist, solely because of the paranoia that electronic use is somehow more dangerous, but also just simply because its traceable - glancing at a top shelf in a newsagents, or going to an art gallery- even if there was intent to only look at nudes, would never cause a trail, a massive argument, dismissals and tribunal cases, yet that is what is happening if the same activity happens on the internet.

I think its important to realise that people will have chats and enrol in 'possibility' websites, just to see what's out there, to see if they can connect briefly with others in the same way one might have a flirty day out at the shops or evening out etc, but they are (rather sadly) doing this on the internet because of time, laziness, an ability to talk themselves up easily, and perhaps shyness and lack of real confidence in actually doing it in RL is part of it too.

Basically I think that the traceability, lack-of-context and internet paranoia about what small indications 'really' mean added to the triumph of 'real' proof from one or two clicks and their records plus some massive paranoia raising by the popular press and LTB proponents is the problem, not really the access.

[meditrina]

I think anything that makes it easier or cheaper to do something will mean that more of that something will happen.

And certainly, if that something requires a partner, then it becomes easier to find and sustain that thing. Internet grooming is remarkably successful, because it gives the opportunity for extended contact with very low chances of detection. So someone who might have been deterred by the risks in finding a partner in RL and the difficulties of stoking a illicit relationship in the early, permission-giving stages, may carry on when it's easy so to do. Andthen find themselves breaking through harmless then important boundaries until the point of no return. Something they might not have done had they had to make a much more deliberate decision to seek illicit privacy without technology. It's not that dissimilar from so many affairs being with work colleagues - the contact at work gives a similar set of opportunities away from the primary partner.

[differentnameforthis]

Nope, don't agree. The downfall is the cheating partner, not the means they use to conduct their alternate relationship!

[differentnameforthis]

The relationship itself is

Disagree with this too. There often isn't anything wrong with the relationship, just that the cheater is greedy/selfish & thinks they can get away with it!

[DorisIsWaiting]

Technogolgy is not too blame for the relationship failing, the partner who cheated is.

I think technology is a help rather than a hinderance, it help people (mostly women) see what twunts they are living with before they waste their life with the unfaithful dick.

[charlottery]

I think it has various effects. Cheating opportunities are easier, and discovery is also easier, so maybe there aren't more affairs, but more are being found out.

I think the main problem with it, though, is how it affects communication. Since I bought my dh an ipad he's completely glued to it, and we talk much less. He's since had an emotional affair (with a real life person) and I think this lack of talking has been the main trigger ( I found out via his phone - more technology)

I'm sorry you're going through this OP

[SchroSawMargeryDaw]

My DP would far rather play Batman on the Xbox than go near his laptop to think about cheating, he doesn't have secret passwords either.

My ex on the other hand... He would do anything to find a way to cheat, he used sites but if they weren't available he would have found a way.

It's not the technology, it's the people.

I thought this thread would have been about partners spending too much time playing games and such, now that I would say does ruin relationships!

[LimitedEditionLady]

Dont know about anyone else but im sick of seeing my OH on his phone on twitter etc.drives me up the wall.i say "look what little ones doing" "look,look!"cant see him because hes looking at the screen.i think if he didnt have it we would talk more but he talks to other people on the screen instead.

[SchroSawMargeryDaw]

Limited I agree that is more a downfall with tech when it comes to relationships!

[YohedYoshoulderYonisandYotoes]

BATMAN!!! MY Soulmate :) :) does he play on-line what's his username?!?!?!

[Fudgemallowdelight]

I remember reading on the relationships board that research had been done into affairs and they found that when people had affairs, contrary to popular belief, there was often no problem with the existing relationship, it was just that the person who had the affair was greedy and selfish and given the opportunity, they happily took it. So when someone has an affair and people say "There must have been something wrong with the relationship. The wife can't have been keeping him happy" to blame it on the person who was cheated on, they are very often wrong and it is just that the person having the affair is selfish and greedy.

[MTSgroupie]

RIP Friends Reunited.

There were lots of stories about old flames turning up and breaking up marriages. But then there were stories about lonely divorcees/widowers reconnecting with a lost love.

Technology can be good and bad at the same time.

[LimitedEditionLady]

Fudgemallowdelight i understand what you are saying but i feel if the cheater really truly loved their partner they would have to much respect and love for them to want to do it.in my opinion and it is just mine if youre meant to be together theres never anyone who comes close because theyre the right person for you.im sorry if that offends anyone its just my opinion x

[SchroSawMargeryDaw]

Yoshed It's Arkham City on the Xbox he is playing, I don't think you can play it online?

(panics about DP finding his soulmate if Yoshed tells me that infact, you can play online)

[Fudgemallowdelight]

Limited. I think some people just like to have their cake and eat it though. Even if they met their soul mate/the most amazing woman in the world, they'd still stray once they'd been together a while and the sparkle had worn off. You'd never be able to really trust them.

[issey6cats]

as fudge said its not always the person who has been cheated ons fault sometimes it dosent matter how good a wife you are the other person is wired to cheat and wether they use traditional mmet up methods or the internet/ phone they are going to cheat come hell or high water, my ex used match.com and a secret phone for his activities and believe me until i caught him i thought we had a good marriage and a good lifestyle but the rogue gene was his not mine, op im sorry you are going through this, 18 months later i still question wether i did anything to contribute towards my ex cheating and no i didnt but dosent make you feel better about yourself

[TiggyD]

Putting a peepee into the wrong woowoo is a problem too.