How Millennials Easily Cheat—and Get Caught, Too

When caught, most cheaters come up with the perfect excuses. But a study reveals that there are two main reasons millennials cheat on their partners: Interdependence and need for independence.

The University of Tennessee conducted a study that was published in the Journal of Sex Research. The study included 104 young adults, aged 22 on average. 59.6 percent of the respondents were females and had admitted to having cheated on their partner in the past six months. The survey was conducted to know the reason why.

73 percent of the participants cited interdependence as the main reason while 20 percent of them reported that they needed more freedom in their relationship.

Interdependence is the main reason behind millennial infidelity. It occurs when one of the partners feel neglected, unloved, does not feel the spark, and believes that their relationship lacks intimacy and communication. Some people revealed that they ended up cheating on their partner because they wanted some excitement, were drunk, or attracted to somebody other than their partner.

Approach Towards Relationships

Compared to the yesteryears, the young adults of today happen to have different attitudes towards relationships mainly because millennials are forced to grow up into adults at a slow rate. With a large number of millennials struggling to settle and move out of their parents’ home, paired with a casual dating culture we know of as hookup culture, many people get used to it and stumble into one-night stands even after getting in a relationship.

The study authors noted that it is possible that cheating on their partners is the only way people seek to meet their needs for both interdependence and need for dependence.

Different Attachment Styles

The two main reasons for infidelity rely on two different attachment styles: Anxious and avoidant. Let’s have a look at these two.

Anxious ones tend to fret about losing that bond and attachment with their partner. Sometimes they even tend to push their significant others away. On the other hand, people with avoidant attachment styles are more likely to believe that their intimacy needs are not getting fulfilled and their partners are doing a poor job.

Jerika Norona, the lead author of the study, suggests that millennials, before getting really serious in a relationship, decide what they want from it. This way both their relationship and individual goals coincide.

Millennials and Modern Relationships

Before this age of tech and gadgets, couples had to deal with a lot of doubt and uncertainty regarding their partner. One had to wonder where their partner was and who they meet unless the information was given willingly. Thanks to advanced technology and spy apps, plain old snooping has become much easier. They let you in on everything that is going on the phone. Nowadays, millennials are no more uncertain about their partners.

Did you know that these smartphones that we carry around, glued to our hands, track our every move? When these devices are in default mode, even then it records our all activities which anyone, with access to our phones, can view as well. These capabilities are what are molding modern relationships today.

YouGov carried out a study which revealed that 37 percent of millennials spied on their partner’s social media communications and text messages at least once a week and that, too, without their consent. The percentage fell to 25 percent for the 35- to 54-year-olds.

It has never been easier to keep tabs on someone and there are some really simple tools that don’t have the prerequisite of you being tech-savvy. Although there is no evidence that cheating has increased in in the last few decades, people have certainly found numerous ways to do so with the help of dating and hookup apps. The subtle ways to infidelity have evolved a great deal with the means to keep them quiet and out of sight.

How Cheaters Get Caught

It is almost impossible to have a secret affair and not leave any proof behind. With most of the hookups happening on dating apps and other online platforms, there is a digital trail of footsteps behind. Both cheaters and those who are being cheated on make use of technology. Cheaters use apps to hide their text messages, emails, and pictures, while those who are suspicious of their partner’s activity also turn to apps (spy apps) to find the truth.

As far as those people are concerned, who believe they are being two-timed, they have found spying tools to the likes of Xnspy and TrackMyFone to know the truth. If you have Xnspy installed on your partner’s phone, you wouldn’t have to go through their phone anymore to see if they are cheating on you because you could access everything from their text messages, call logs, and locations to emails, multimedia, web browsing history, shared multimedia, social media, IMs, and even Tinder activity from your own cellphone or computer.

These apps not only track locations, but provide you with your partner’s location history, too. At first, these tracking apps and devices were meant for parents only so that they could monitor their children, but now, the same apps can be used to catch your partner cheating on you with proof while working in the background silently and stealthily.

Technology has become both a boon and bane for millennials now. No matter how hard you try to keep something a secret, it will eventually come out in the open for everyone to see. Because in the digital age, nothing ever goes away, not completely.