Lots of people use the Internet to obtain useful information, but increasingly people are turning to the web for companionship and it is destroying families and ruining real life relationships.
An instant connection can be made in a chat room or through IM's or E-mails. It may start out innocent, but it's easy to get sucked in. And before you know it, a web of deceit is being spun.
"You start going down a road and all of a sudden you're talking with somebody and you're getting a level of empathy and understanding you're not getting in your marriage," said Dr. Stephen Treat from the Council for Relationships.
He says cyber affairs are a real epidemic.
"It's because people are anonymous and they can set up partial relationships and they can have a fantasy about who the person is," said Dr. Treat. They can fantasize about being loved. They can fantasize levels of sexuality with somebody because they don't really know the person."
Dr. Treat says that it's absolutely cheating, and can be more destructive than a physical affair.
"You're taking a piece of your emotion, a piece of what you should be sharing with your spouse, and what you do is you share it with this anonymous person," said Dr. Treat.
What should you do if you suspect your partner is involved in a virtual romance?
"Sometimes I don't mind if you do a little bit of private investigating. You actually go into the Internet and go in search and go find out. At least then you'll know," said Dr. Treat.
Dr. Treat says you should definitely confront your significant other if you find out they are cheating online. But he says you should also look at yourself and look at your relationship. That, may help you figure out how it happened in the first place.
