Think those winky face emojis or flirty comments you leave on photos are purely innocent? If you're in a relationship, it may land you some hot water. According to a new survey, most millennials consider online flirting a form of cheating.
Fusion recently asked 1,000 18- to 34-year-olds about whether “online flirtations or relationships” amounted to cheating, and 82 percent said yes. Broken down by sex, 77 percent of men and 88 percent of women called it a form of infidelity. (Note that the site did not define what behaviors constitute online flirtations or relationships).
The website also quizzed the millennials on how they feel about breaking up via text. Seventy-nine percent said calling it quits over text is never OK, but 14 percent admitted they had done it.
Why would that 14 percent opt to break up through text rather than in person? In a 2013 interview with the Washington Post, linguistics professor Naomi Baron said text breakups have everything to do with our fear of a messy confrontation.
"You don't have to have a big knock-down-drag-out fight, but you also don't get that experience of having to interact in uncomfortable situations -- face-to-face live situations," Baron said.
For more interesting findings from Fusion's survey of millennials, head here.
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