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Internet flirting is breaking up marriages even though "chat room cheats" may never meet, a new report reveals.
According to counselling organisations in the United States, chat rooms are the fastest-rising cause of relationship breakdowns.
A similar trend can be seen in Britain, where increasing numbers of people are seeking help to save their marriages from the lure of the Internet.
Beatriz Mileham, from the University of Gainesville in Florida, who carried out the new study, said: "The Internet will soon become the most common form of infidelity, if it isn't already."
With 649 million Internet users worldwide, chat rooms were a fatal attraction for many married people seeking sexual thrills and romantic adventure.
In the vast majority of cases, spouses who had Internet encounters with the opposite sex did not think they were doing anything wrong.
Yet research had shown that on-line adultery caused the same feelings of hurt, anger and betrayal as skin-to-skin contact.
And in many cases what started out as innocent fun ended up as a full-blown affair.
Ms Mileham conducted in-depth interviews with 76 men and 10 women, aged 25 to 66, who used Yahoo's "Married and Flirting" or Microsoft's "Married But Flirting" Internet chat rooms.
Both are specifically geared for married couples.
The study participants included stay-at-home mothers, construction workers, engineers, nurses and presidents of large corporations.
Some went on-line for a quick "sex fix", while others established more meaningful connections, and talked about personal problems and marital issues.
In some cases people hoped to start a real-life affair. Still others wanted to engage in "cybersex" - exchanging sexual fantasies while masturbating.
Some 83 per cent did not consider themselves to be cheating, while the remaining 17 per cent regarded it as a "weak" form of infidelity they could easily justify.
Ms Mileham said: "The number one complaint from men was lack of sex in the marriage. With cybersex, there is no longer any need for secret trips to obscure motels. An on-line liaison may even take place in the same room with one's spouse."
The research found an escalating quality to these on-line contacts. Many participants reported that innocent, friendly exchanges progressed quickly to strong desires for sexual relationships.
Almost a third of the study participants went on to meet the person with whom they had made contact.
Of these, all but two ended up having a real-life affair. One 66-year-old man ended up having no less than 13 affairs.
Research showed that more men than women used chat rooms. Women were usually bombarded with messages and could pick and choose which ones they were interested in.
Gill Munro, from the British marriage guidance service Relate said: "The sort of experience our counsellors are having is similar to that described in this study.
"The most common problem, as this research suggests, is that even when nothing physical happens there's a feeling of infidelity and betrayal as much as when two people have a real affair."
But she said it was wrong to think the Internet was creating new problems. Rather, it was bringing out problems between couples that already existed under the surface.
"The number of problems a couple will have doesn't necessarily increase just because of new technology," said Ms Munro.
"It's down to how they manage their relationship and how responsibly they are looking after it."
Read more: Internet cheats cause divorce | Mail Online
According to counselling organisations in the United States, chat rooms are the fastest-rising cause of relationship breakdowns.
A similar trend can be seen in Britain, where increasing numbers of people are seeking help to save their marriages from the lure of the Internet.
Beatriz Mileham, from the University of Gainesville in Florida, who carried out the new study, said: "The Internet will soon become the most common form of infidelity, if it isn't already."
With 649 million Internet users worldwide, chat rooms were a fatal attraction for many married people seeking sexual thrills and romantic adventure.
In the vast majority of cases, spouses who had Internet encounters with the opposite sex did not think they were doing anything wrong.
Yet research had shown that on-line adultery caused the same feelings of hurt, anger and betrayal as skin-to-skin contact.
And in many cases what started out as innocent fun ended up as a full-blown affair.
Ms Mileham conducted in-depth interviews with 76 men and 10 women, aged 25 to 66, who used Yahoo's "Married and Flirting" or Microsoft's "Married But Flirting" Internet chat rooms.
Both are specifically geared for married couples.
The study participants included stay-at-home mothers, construction workers, engineers, nurses and presidents of large corporations.
Some went on-line for a quick "sex fix", while others established more meaningful connections, and talked about personal problems and marital issues.
In some cases people hoped to start a real-life affair. Still others wanted to engage in "cybersex" - exchanging sexual fantasies while masturbating.
Some 83 per cent did not consider themselves to be cheating, while the remaining 17 per cent regarded it as a "weak" form of infidelity they could easily justify.
Ms Mileham said: "The number one complaint from men was lack of sex in the marriage. With cybersex, there is no longer any need for secret trips to obscure motels. An on-line liaison may even take place in the same room with one's spouse."
The research found an escalating quality to these on-line contacts. Many participants reported that innocent, friendly exchanges progressed quickly to strong desires for sexual relationships.
Almost a third of the study participants went on to meet the person with whom they had made contact.
Of these, all but two ended up having a real-life affair. One 66-year-old man ended up having no less than 13 affairs.
Research showed that more men than women used chat rooms. Women were usually bombarded with messages and could pick and choose which ones they were interested in.
Gill Munro, from the British marriage guidance service Relate said: "The sort of experience our counsellors are having is similar to that described in this study.
"The most common problem, as this research suggests, is that even when nothing physical happens there's a feeling of infidelity and betrayal as much as when two people have a real affair."
But she said it was wrong to think the Internet was creating new problems. Rather, it was bringing out problems between couples that already existed under the surface.
"The number of problems a couple will have doesn't necessarily increase just because of new technology," said Ms Munro.
"It's down to how they manage their relationship and how responsibly they are looking after it."
Read more: Internet cheats cause divorce | Mail Online
