It’s easy to do. You are bored, mad at your partner and notice a Facebook Message from an old flame. Your curiosity is peaked. What harm could it do to answer and catch up?

Next thing you know, you are sharing the details of your life, only you aren’t talking about your marriage.

The messages get longer and more detailed. Now, you are flirting. Then one day, you find out that he will be in your town on business and would like to meet over dinner. You don’t tell your husband. After all, this is only an old flame from high school.

At dinner, the spark ignites. Those cyber chats have brought you close together. And this is a man interested in you and listening to your life and dreams. You are in trouble!

Catalogs.com’s information library reports: [i]

•       57 percent of people use the Internet to cheat

•       38 percent of people have engaged in explicit online sexual conversations

•       50 percent of people have talked on the phone with someone they first chatted with online

•       31 percent of people have had an online conversation that has led to in-person sex.

 Infidelity is often opportunity-driven. Social media provide many opportunities!

Posts that become too intimate or tantalizing can quickly transform a trusted partner to a tempted one. Fast and easy emotional availability and regular communication with former friends and lovers can lead to affairs, both emotional and physical.

Safeguards are needed. Here are 5 to help:

1) Don’t friend a former flame or ex. Resist the temptation and flee!

2) Don’t hide that you are married. This is the beginning of secrets and deception.

3)  Think of every line you write as a face-to-face conversation. Would you say those things if your partner could hear them? If not, don’t say it.

4) Check the frequency of your communication. Frequency can build intimacy.

5) Stop flirting and hit De-friend. If you’ve crossed the line, end it now!

Source;  Lindsay Shugeman, “Percentage of Married Couples Who Cheat,” Catalogs.com, http://www.catalogs.com/info/relationships/percentage-of-married-couples-who-cheat-on-each-ot.html.