Cheating, also known as infidelity, is when a person in a monogamous romantic relationship has an emotional or sexual relationship with someone else without their partner's consent.
Micro cheating refers to acts of seemingly trivial, inappropriate behaviors that occur outside of one's devoted relationship, often done unintentionally.
Simply put, cheating is being unfaithful to your partner.
There are different types of cheating in a relationship, and it doesn't only involve physical affairs. Instead, cheating seeks sexual intimacy, emotional attachment, or gratification from someone other than your partner.
Categories or types of infidelity include physical infidelity, emotional cheating, cyber infidelity, object infidelity, and financial infidelity.
The term "micro-cheating" usually refers to small, seemingly innocuous behaviors that straddle the line between faithfulness and cheating. Cheating, micro or otherwise, is less about the behavior and more about lies and the keeping of secrets and how they impact your partner.
Clearly, there's nothing “accidental” about choosing to cheat on your spouse. Regardless of the details, the unfaithful party has carried out an act of deception and betrayal. One for which they need to take responsibility. However, most who end up being unfaithful to their partner had never planned on doing so.
Micro-cheating is a term for small, sometimes unintentional actions that could be seen as minor infidelity. Examples of micro-cheating include talking to an ex on social media and lying about your relationship status to casual acquaintances.
With an emotional affair, there may be a meeting, but it can occur on a cell phone, a computer, or a lunch date with someone other than a partner, and there is no physical intimacy. Many of the people who are emotionally cheating don't consider it to be infidelity.
Inappropriate texting can be considered cheating depending on a couple's boundaries around fidelity. Signs of a texting affair may include being secretive, keeping your phone down or out of sight, and flirting with others through text.
Is flirting on text cheating? If your partner considers flirting over text cheating, or if your messages would upset them, then yes — it may be considered cheating in your relationship.
Just because you haven't had sex with someone else doesn't mean you are being faithful. Emotional affairs, work spouses, deleting texts, and keeping in touch with exes can all be forms of infidelity.
According to St. George, the answer to the philandering question is a definitive no. “Wives should be relieved that her husband has been having non-emotional sex and that he has chosen to pay for it rather than becoming entangled in an affair.” And this is where things get interesting.
Unfaithful partners usually lie about how they spend their time, their money, who they are talking to on the phone, or where they have been. For instance, they may say that they are having to work longer hours, weekends, evenings, or travel for work more often to cover for an affair.
While some believe that an emotional affair is harmless, most marriage experts view an emotional affair as a form of cheating without having a sexual relationship. Emotional affairs are often gateways to sexual infidelity, with about half of such emotional involvements turning into full-blown affairs.
But other cheaters aren't repeat offenders; they're people who made one mistake. There are also different reasons people cheat, and those influence whether or not they'll do it again. According to Nelson, a person could simply enjoy the act of cheating may never change because it's built in to their personality.
Inherent Selfishness/Entitlement. Some cheaters, despite loving their partner and enjoying their relationship, feel they deserve more. Rather than seeing their vow of fidelity as a sacrifice made to and for their relationship, they view it as something to be worked around.
Emotional cheating often involves secrecy and lies, as the person engaging in the behavior may try to hide the extent of their emotional relationship with someone else from their partner. In contrast, micro-cheating behaviors may be more overt, and may not necessarily involve lying or deceit.
In essence, if you're not caught cheating, you're still breaking a promise behind someone's back. The majority of us know that remaining faithful is a promise that is a given in serious relationships.
Emotional affairs are often a result of feeling neglected, misunderstood or overlooked in a relationship. If a person believes that their partner does not value them, or does not have time for them, then they might strike up a friendship with a new person who offers more emotional investment and support.