Remember when cheating was pretty straightforward? 

Oh, how times have changed! Remember when cheating was pretty straightforward? You kissed someone who wasn’t your partner, slept with someone else, or suddenly started working very late on Thursdays with Jennifer from accounting.

Well, welcome to relationships in 2026, where apparently you can cheat without ever leaving the couch.

A new survey of 2,000 Americans found 15% of people who are married or in a relationship admit they currently have romantic feelings for someone other than their partner. Gen Z was the most likely to admit it, at 31%, followed by millennials at 21%.

Men were also more likely to admit having feelings for somebody else, 19% compared with 12% of women.

But the really interesting part of the survey was what people now consider cheating. And apparently, your phone is basically one giant crime scene.

RELATED: Is Flirting Cheating? 51% Might Dump You for It!

What Counts as Cheating?

According to the survey, these behaviours crossed the line:

1. Ongoing flirty texts with someone else: 41%
2. Late-night conversations you're hiding from your partner: 40%
3. Keeping a dating app profile "just to look": 37%
4. Saving someone in your phone under a fake name: 37%
5. Deleting messages so your partner won't see them: 36%
6. Secretly keeping in touch with an ex: 36%
7. Secretly meeting someone one-on-one: 36%
8. Having a friendship your partner doesn't know about: 34%
9. Sending "What if we were single?" messages: 33%
10. Sending romantic heart emojis, compliments or inside jokes: 33%

Even having a "work spouse" was considered cheating by 33% of respondents.

So maybe stop referring to Brad in sales as your "work husband."

Brad has a name.
Brad has a wife.
And apparently Brad is now a potential HR situation.

Interestingly, people know these behaviours are questionable, but that doesn't necessarily stop them. One in 10 admitted to deleting messages so their partner wouldn't see them, while others admitted to secret meet-ups, hidden friendships and flirty conversations.

Basically, if you have to tilt your phone away when your partner walks into the room...

The phone probably isn't the problem.

But People Are Also Breaking Up Over THIS?

The survey also asked people about some of the strangest reasons they've ended relationships.

Answers included weird-looking feet, chewing gum badly, getting a bad haircut, refusing to eat fresh vegetables, leaving a $1 tip after an expensive dinner and making bad pasta.

Someone even dumped a person because they were taken to Bingo on a date.

If there's a bar, a meat raffle and I could leave with $500, we're going on a second date.

And naturally, somebody ended a relationship because they couldn't agree on whether pineapple belongs on pizza.

Which brings us to the relationship question of 2026:

What's something that isn't technically cheating... but YOU would absolutely consider cheating?

Deleting texts? Secretly messaging an ex? Having a "work wife"? Or perhaps the ultimate betrayal:

Watching the next episode of your show without you.