Wednesday, October 16, 2002

A story published today by the Scotsman reports that a British counseling agency claims that more marriages are being ruined because cheating partners are reigniting old romances through internet websites.

According to Relate, a counseling agency in Britain, 10 percent of the 90,000 couples who seek its help today cite the internet as the troublesome third party in marriages.

Sites such as Friends Reunited have enabled people to reignite old passions and revive school romances by e-mail. Internet pornography and cybersex relationships are another threat to marital harmony.

Lynn Barnett, a senior counselor at Relate, said: "Particularly with Friends Reunited, people want to re-live a part of their lives that offers them warm memories of the past. But most of these relationships remain untested.

The divorce courts are seeing increasing numbers of cases in which people have enjoyed an online relationship, only to see their domestic arrangements fall apart when an angry partner discovers their internet infidelity .

Ms Barnett added: "The time people spend talking to old flames is time that should be spent on their current relationships. But the real problems start when people arrange to meet, because that’s when things start to escalate."