Do you think technology has made cheating more common?

[NJmaverick]

I was talking to someone about the Sanford affair and he was blaming it on technology. He talked about how private email allowed him to stay in touch with that woman and how he probably called her on his personal cell phone, etc. He said that with email, the internet and personal cell phones it was so much easier to cheat and find people to cheat with than it had in the past. Do you think that there is more marital infidelity than in the past? If so, would you blame it on the opportunities offered by technology?

[hippywife]

1. No.

If someone is going to cheat, technology isn't going to make a difference at all. In some cases, like Sanford's, it actually makes it more difficult because you invariably end up meeting someone far away.

[NJmaverick]

2. Do people cheat because they meet a temptation they can't resist,

as Sanford claims, or do people go looking for the temptation because they have a desire to cheat?

[hippywife]

4. Depends on the person, really.

Some people set out looking for a new experience to relieve their boredom, others stumble across it and are too weak to resist.

[NJmaverick]

8. Wouldn't the increased number of people one stumbles across

increase the chances of the second group cheating?

[hippywife]

9. I suppose it could.

But I wouldn't categorize that as "making it easier" because that would more aptly apply to the first group.

So in a way it can make it easier but I still say that it's easier for the first group to cheat by seeking out people in a face-to-face environment. Technology just maybe gives them more opportunities to choose from.

[Moondog]

3. No. I think technology simply makes longer-distance cheating viable.

Previously these folks found their delights in a smaller geographic area.

[NJmaverick]

6. I was thinking that if you increase the geographic boundries

it increases the chances of finding temptation.

[Moondog]

10. Temptation always finds its outlet.

Increasing geographic boundaries simply increases the travel time.

[Rabrrrrrr]

5. Not more common at all; but it's made finding it out a hell of a lot easier.

Because there's no such thing as private email and private phone calls - nor private credit card transactions...

everything electronic leaves a signature and a traceable path.

[NJmaverick]

7. You bring up an excellent point

I have a friend who's husband is a cop. He thought she was cheating. He got her one of those GPS phones and had the program that allowed him to track her. He had transcripts of her text messages, because the phone was in his name and he put spyware on the computer so he could track what she was doing online.

[timtom]

11. Oh, hell no!

Not even sure it's made it even easier.