Technologies making easier for 'inclined' couples to cheat

Wellington: Couples with the propensity to cheat are finding it easier to do so with the help of Internet, social networking and smartphones, experts have claimed.

Clinical psychologist Karen Nimmo said new technologies made the potential for cheating a growing issue for her clients.

"Many people go through others' phones and check what they have been up to. And there are also all the emotional affairs people conduct. They might not be having sex but they are only a step or two from it," Stuff.xon.nz quoted her as saying.

"I think people get themselves into texting way deeper than they would if they were face to face."

It would be unfair to blame technology for infidelity, but it was definitely a facilitator for those so inclined, according to private investigator Kerrie Pihema.

"Now there's more opportunity, more online dating sites. It is so much easier to have two phones ... to rekindle old flames ... to be anonymous. Technology creates a new platform, for those who want to cheat, to cheat."

The Internet was also making it easier for people to meet and progress sexual relationships faster than they would otherwise, experts say.

Wellstop general manager Hamish Dixon said people were sending sexual images of themselves to people they had only recently come into contact with.

There were also cases where people would access sexual images online and then pressure their partners to get involved in something they were not comfortable with.