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Is This Man Cheating on His Wife?

A man spends 10-20 hours every day with a woman in a virtual world. He “marries” her. Is he cheating on his flesh and blood wife? Of course he is. He may not be having sex with his virtual mistress but marriage is about a lot more than who you have sex with.

Sitting alone in the living room in front of the television, Mrs. Hoogestraat says she worries it will be years before her husband realizes that he's traded his real life for a pixilated fantasy existence, one that doesn't include her.

Is This Man Cheating on His Wife? - WSJ.com

Comments

  1. Norby on 2007-08-12 23:29:15 wrote: Clearly I can’t be the first to say “Um, yeah!” since you already did, but I totally agree. -//

  2. s’mee on 2007-08-13 09:37:36 wrote: I am having an extremely difficult time trying to express what I feel about this without coming off as a religious freak. Part of me is saying this is prophetic. Then there is the “obvious guys says:” part of me that says these people don’t want to be in real relationships, with real emotions and real trials…so they “control” cartoons so that their fantacy worlds are without problems of any kind. In the meantime they slowly trade “no problems” for a life full of them. Eventualy they will have no “real” life at all. A waste of human life. So suffice it to: E-FEAKING GADS PEOPLE!

  3. Sylvia on 2007-08-13 10:01:02 wrote: This would not be quite as surprising if the guy had been married to his real life wife for 20 or 30 years. The fact that they have only been married for SEVEN MONTHS, makes one conclude that the husband in question has more than one mental problem, starting with an extremely short attention span! As far as the cheating issue goes, yes, of course he’s cheating, although not in the sense that he’s sneaking around doing it to keep his wife from finding out. He’s cheating her and himself of a real marriage, which he doesn’t appear to want anyway. She needs to get rid of him and find someone who wants to live a real life.

  4. Laura on 2007-08-15 11:26:58 wrote: Like you said - “marriage is about a lot more than who you have sex with” He’s unfaithful in the most important sense - in his thoughts. While his wife brings him breakfast, goes without companionship, worries about his health his online “wife” enjoys all the virtual benefits without any virtual troubles. I feel sorry for folks who cannot see that the real adventure is Life, not virtual “life”.

  5. samer on 2008-12-11 23:51:02 wrote: i don’t accepet that way for the married relationship