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Are You A Victim Or Perpetrator Of ‘Mirco-Cheating’?

Are You A Victim Or Perpetrator Of ‘Mirco-Cheating’?

While a lot of people consider physical cheating to be bad, there are reportedly much smaller things that can be considered 'micro-cheating'

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie

Because we live in an age where labels are being chucked on everything, there's another new term for that thing you might have been doing during a relationship. There's already been 'firedooring' and 'phubbing' (more on those later), and now there's a name for a type of behaviour which is a little less vague: micro-cheating.

Most, if not all, people are aware that cheating isn't exactly the best thing you can do in a relationship. Actually, it's a really shitty thing to do - possibly the worst.

But there are people out there who will tell you that there are different levels to cheating.

via GIPHY

Some reckon that having sex multiple times with someone other than your partner is worse than doing the deed just once, which is still worse than going to second or third base with that person, which, again, is worse than just kissing someone else.

But here's where 'micro-cheating' comes into play.

While cheating is usually associated with a physical act with someone outside your relationship, there are smaller things that fall under this 'micro' category.

Have you ever sent nudes to someone? How about naughty texts? Or even just messaged a certain someone but changed their contact name or deleted the evidence?

Well, that's a form of micro-cheating, according to dating expert Melanie Schilling.

But that's just the tip of the iceberg, with Ms Schilling telling Huffington Post: "You might be engaging in micro-cheating if you secretly connect with another guy or girl on social media; if you share private jokes; if you downplay the seriousness of your relationship to another guy/girl; or if you enter their name under a code in your phone.

Are these people micro-cheating on each other?
Creative Commons

"These are all signs that you are conducting a 'covert flirtation' and keeping it from your partner. If you feel you have something to hide, ask yourself why."

It's just another 'dating trend' to be wary of and joins the rest of the modern-day slang we use to describe how we behave with our significant other.

To bring you up to speed on the other terms, 'Firedooring' is the act of putting a lot of time and effort into a relationship and getting nothing in return. If you're wondering how they came up with the name, you know how you can only open a firedoor from one side, with the other side being impenetrable? Yeah, that.

While 'Phubbing' can be best understood as the extent to which an individual uses, or is distracted, by his/her cell phone while in the company of his/her relationship partner.

That trendy word is just a mash-up of phone and snubbing - who is making all these terms?

Sources: Huffington Post

Featured Image Credit: Creative Commons

Topics: phone, Dating, Interesting, Relationship, Community, Cheating