Whenever you hear about the term “cheating”, what’s the first thing that comes to your mind?

According to WebMd, cheating, or known as infidelity, is when someone who is in an exclusive monogamous relationship enters an emotional or sexual relationship with someone else. Basically, it’s being unfaithful to your partner. 

As the world evolves, the language that we use everyday evolves too. The term cheating has variables now, such as emotional cheating, and the term that is trending on TikTok now, micro-cheating.

But really, how does micro-cheating differ from the generalized word cheating?

A book entitled “The Science of Happily Ever After: What Really Matters in the Quest for Enduring Love” by the psychologist Ty Tashiro defines micro-cheating as “An act of emotional infidelity with someone outside of a person’s committed relationship.” 

So, micro-cheating does not involve physical contact with someone you like but an online interaction. 

It may be downloading dating apps, texting someone secretly, liking someone’s posts obsessively, and having an online interaction with someone you find attractive.

Here are the examples of micro-cheating, according to a licenced mental health counselor:

1. Messaging someone in a flirtatious way.
2. Lying about your relationship online or in person.
3. Cyberstalking a crush or an ex.
4. Keeping a dating profile to still look for someone better than your partner. 
5. Keeping regular communication with an ex. 

Here are the signs that you are micro-cheated on:

1. When your partner is communicating to an ex that he/she never mentioned before.
2. When your partner is emotionally detached and neglects your relationship.
3. When your partner is secretive about their mobile apps.
4. When your partner is not mentioning you on social media, work and their circle of friends.
5. When you have concern but they rather become defensive, and then gaslight you. 

Micro-cheating could be tricky sometimes because some people might not find these behaviors unacceptable, yet others could consider these examples as infidelity because these really are some of the causes of how a relationship could get worse. 

These “micro” behaviors could also result in trauma to everyone who is being cheated on, so even if it is called “micro-cheating,” it is still considered cheating.

So better let yourselves know these actions for your future reference.

With reports from Alyza Santos and Imelda Evangelista