Ninety percent of respondents in a new survey conducted by National Cellular Directory reported that they have been cheated on at least once. More alarming than this was the methods most frequently employed to catch two-timing partners. Of all the participants polled, only 10% confessed to infidelity, and only 18% were outed by a third party. By and large, technology was the most consistent and reliable source for uncovering deceit. The study’s authors correctly note the irony technology dually plays in funding new avenues of infidelity and dimming methods of covering up your tracks.
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Dead ringer
It stands to reason that divorce rates have experienced a shared incline with the advent of social media. In How Technological Advances Have Impacted Marriage In America, Patrick Frey, B.A. opens with an observation regarding the throughline connecting the then topical downfalls of golfer Tiger Woods, former governor of Detroit Kwame Kilpatrick, and Senator John Ensign. These three men made headlines more than a decade ago for their acts of unfaithfulness and were all caught and “publicly embarrassed” via technology: lude text messages, voicemails, and hidden phone numbers.
Given the frequency in which infidelity is occasioned as the reason for divorce, methods that energize anguished investigation can only ensure instances of couple parting ways continue to rise. Twenty percent of the 5,000 divorce papers reviewed in 2009, mentioned Facebook, specifically private direct messages informing one another on meetup times and locations.
Thirty-six percent of the 115 U.S adults between the ages of 18 and 65 surveyed in the new National Cellular Directory report, discovered that their partner was cheating by checking their verified texting history and an additional 34% found out their partner was unfaithful by checking their call history. Nearly 30% of surveyees were tipped off by Facebook. The authors of the new report claim that some people have even gone so far as to track their partners using the GPS in their phones to find out if they were up to no good.
Memory wipe
Fifty-seven percent of cheaters said that they were ultimately forgiven by their partner, and 21% of forgivers said they did so immediately; thirty-six percent of respondents said it took them some time.
Twenty-five percent of Americans polled said that they would never forgive their cheating partner for what they did, with 19% saying they could consider it, but it would take a while. Twenty-three percent simply cheated on the partner that recently cheated on them, whether out of retaliation or chance, was not made clear. All in all, 64% of respondents decided to stay with their cheating significant other, though the study went on to reveal that the effects of the act are often long-lasting. Eighty-six percent of respondents that reported being cheated on, said that their level of trust has certainly been affected.
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