With the advent of mobile phone technology, long-distance relationship (LDR) has become more pronounced. A good number of people have embraced the culture of long-distance relationships via different social media platforms using their mobile phones and computer systems. It is common to note that millions of active social media users have met their partners in recent years on platforms such as Facebook, Tinder, Snapchat, Instagram, and other popular microblogging platforms. LDR has been seen by many people as a route to infidelity.
Infidelity in long distance relationship is a violation of the agreed-upon rules of a relationship, where one partner engages in sexual, emotional, romantic, or micro-cheating behavior with someone outside of the relationship. Infidelity is a breach of trust, and it can cause significant harm to the partner and the relationship in the long run.
Long-distance relationships initially arose when one partner moved to a new and different location for different reasons. Then, partners communicated via letter writing and occasional travel visits. However, the story is no longer the same, partners in long-distance relationships communicate via mobile phone technology, which in many instances has led to unexpected heartbreaks.
Financial constraints of traveling to meet a partner regularly is an Achilles heel to long-distance relationships Someone living in Australia is not going to find it easy financially to embark on a weekly trip to England in the name of love and a long-distance relationship. LDR is not going to make it possible even if the trip is once every month.
Daily conversations are germane in long-distance relationships to document trust. Both partners are to ensure they converse regularly to know that they have a future together. Regular conversations are likelier to wane down because of LDR, as the absence of the physical presence of each partner affects consistency.
Cheating is a common feature in long-distance relationships Findings indicate that over 40% of all long-distance relationships fail. It has been seen that 37% broke up in the first few months, and 24% had difficulty staying faithful in a long-distance relationship.
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Infidelity is a frequent and unfortunate occurrence in many long-distance relationships. Some precursors of long-distance relationships are well known.
1. Social media platforms
Some social media platforms are dedicated to dating. With long distance relationship, one of the partners could think of meeting someone else on a dating social media platform to kill loneliness. Such a partner might see chatting with another person as a new relationship experience and interact less often with his or her long-distance relationship partner.
2. Educational sojourn
The pursuit of quality and higher educational qualifications has led to long-distance relationships between partners. A man or woman who has committed to a relationship will want to go for scholarship degree programs, especially in countries known as green pastures. A large number of Nigerians have left the shores of the country including their partners for educational purposes in Canada, the United States, and Europe.
3. Economic growth and financial independence
Human beings naturally would want to live in an economically working society. Even within Nigeria, Nigerians move from one part of the country to another which they feel is economically more viable. Therefore, such people will leave their partners for the hustling and bustling of city life, which will lead to a long-distance relationship. Other instances are sportsmen and women such as footballers who move from one country to another plying their trade, therefore finding themselves intertwined in LDR.
4. Change of environment
There could be change of environment for different reasons. It could be as a result of job transfer or residential purposes. A man who lives with his fiancée in Delta state might find himself in Sokoto state if his employers transferred him, thereby leading to the long-distance relationship between his fiancée and him.
Most opinion molders against a long-distance relationship hinge on the point that it breeds infidelity. Some of the reasons why LDR will open cracks for cheating are clear for everyone to see.
1. Emotional, psychological, mental factors
Long-distance relationships widen the communication gaps between partners. It makes partners who easily use dotting words on each other to reduce such. For some women for instance who see their partners once in a while via video calls, they could start thinking that their partner will eventually end up with another woman. LDR gives such women emotional breakdown especially if their men end up marrying other women. Some women might end up committing suicide.
In addition, a long-distance relationship makes it difficult for someone to gauge their partner's temperament, especially if they have never met one-on-one before. This is because long distance relationship does not make affections to be consistent with actual feelings. In the long run, trust issues set in.
2. Social reasons
“It is ordinary for a woman to find out her husband’s cheating on her, but not if you’re the woman and it’s your husband.” - American author Melissa Banks
One of the hallmarks of long-distance relationships is the lack of face-to-face communication. Human beings are social beings, therefore seeing and meeting someone physically help human beings to better understand themselves. Long-distance relationship lacks romantic nights where there is social expression between both partners. In this case, one of the partners is likelier to be tempted to meet someone to express romantic feelings with, in the long run causing a dent in their LDR.
3. Physical reasons
There is no open communication in long distance relationships. Social and physical factors in a relationship are closely related. When one of the partners starts getting fed up with LDR, and have phone calls not going through sometimes, it means there is fire on the mountain. The cheating partner finds it difficult to initiate conversations, what was crystal clear to both partners will begin to become vague, with intimacy reducing. All these are red flags that one of the partners is cheating. In other long-distance relationship infidelity issues, both partners are deeply involved in cheating, using the long-distance relationship as a shield not to reveal who the guilty partner is between the two of them.
Sources
https://www.sdrelationshipplace.com/infidelity-in-long-distance-relationships/
https://www.bonobology.com/cheating-long-distance-relationship/#:~:text=How%20common%20is%20cheating%20in,the%20same%20as%20regular%20relationships.
https://helloprenup.com/dating/are-long-distance-relationships-more-vulnerable-to-infidelity/
https://www.verywellmind.com/long-distance-relationships-can-they-work-4174038
Oladele Hakeem Olaniyan who lives in Nigeria writes this article exclusively for Naijaloveinfo.
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