When we hear the word “cheating,” the first thing that often comes to mind is infidelity in a romantic relationship.
You can’t blame us—that’s the most used form of the word.
But is that all that cheating is?
I feel like we’ve magnified cheating so much as infidelity so much that we forget that the word sometimes means something other than infidelity.
Let’s begin by defining cheating:
Cheating is what I’ll define as the act of being dishonest or deceptive to gain an unfair advantage or benefit in a situation.
I sometimes wonder what people mean when they say, “But I didn’t tell a lie,” when they are raising a defense for being deceptive.
Whether you tell a lie, deceive someone, or tell half-truths, they’re all the same thing.
Most people are familiar with the stereotypical forms of cheating, but there are many other types that often fly under the radar.
Those are the ones we have exposed and brought to light in this article.
6 Kinds of Cheating Most People Don’t Know About
1. Emotional Cheating
Physical infidelity is quite popular and widely known.
But there are very few people who know about the emotional cheating or emotional infidelity that can exist between romantic couples.
Emotional infidelity is just as harmful as physical infidelity.
The difference is, with physical infidelity, you can clearly tell your partner’s offense and everyone will understand.
Not everyone understands what emotional cheating is, so sometimes people just wave it off.
Emotional cheating happens when a person forms a deep emotional connection with someone outside of their primary relationship.
Most times the person cheating will feel like they are just creating an innocent bond with another person.
But it starts innocently like that then leads to an unbreakable bond that competes with what they share with their partner.
Emotional cheating may be even more damaging than physical cheating because it toys with the emotional bond of the relationship.
And we all know that this is what forms the foundation of the relationship.
2. Digital Cheating
In this digital age, cheating can happen online without any physical interaction.
Digital cheating can concern relationships or finance.
Se.x chatting with someone who is not your partner, sending them nudes, etc.
They’ve even given it a name: sexting.
Se.xting with another person when you are in a relationship is a form of infidelity.
You’re building intimacy with someone who you are not in a relationship with.
Or you may be in a relationship but still maintain your profile on dating apps and engage with people there.
It’s another form of online or digital cheating.
Then the most popular one is Internet fraud.
People posing to be who they’re not on the Internet just to steal from someone else, using digital means to steal from people.
These are all fraudulent practices.
And technology has made it easier for frauds to engage in their fraudulent practices.
And this is why people are encouraged to double the security of all their mobile apps.
3. Academic Cheating
When we were younger as kids, academic cheating meant nothing more than copying someone’s homework because you were too lazy to do yours at home.
But today, academic cheating means a truckload of dishonest behaviors that compromise the integrity of education.
Using someone else’s work or ideas without proper attribution.
There’s a reason students are taught citations in school.
But you’ll still find people writing assignments and papers without citing the source.
Then there’s the widespread issue of exam malpractice, which involves using unauthorized materials or getting help during an exam.
Academic cheating is more serious than people realize and includes repercussions that might not immediately come to mind when in the act.
One of these repercussions is the fact that a student who cheats their way to academic success may become useless to society, not being able to employ their own knowledge and creativity to build innovation for their community.
In many countries today, academic cheating is a punishable offense by the law.
4. Professional Cheating
There’s so much dishonesty in the workplace today.
People have taken to doing anything that will increase their cash flow, and what is unfortunate about this is the get-rich-quick syndrome plaguing this generation’s young people.
And this syndrome has caused many to take dishonest routes to becoming rich.
From falsifying personal documents to falsifying work records just to avert some more
funds into their wallets
Some people go as far as having sexual relations with people from work just to receive favors from them.
This is unprofessional and unethical both for the organization and the individual.
We also see situations where heads of departments take credit for their subordinates’ work.
When they do this, they rob the employee of their appraisal and good track record.
Or when people come to do their own business in a company at the detriment of the work they are paid for.
Whatever form or shape it takes, professional cheating messes up the trust factor in the organization and creates a toxic work environment.
5. Creative Cheating
As someone in the creative industry, I know what it feels like for someone to lift your brainchild and use it without proper acknowledgment.
It can be very infuriating.
People do creative cheating in different ways: copying someone else’s artwork or designs, using someone else’s writing or ideas without proper acknowledgment, or lying about qualifications or experiences to gain opportunities.
The ones who blow my mind the most are the people in the last category mentioned.
What if you are asked there and then to prove that you can actually do the things you say you can do?
And even though creative cheating is one of the most ignored forms of cheating, it has serious impacts on creatives and the world at large.
When people know that they can easily lift someone else’s idea without having to do the brain work and go ahead to do it, they are stifling originality and innovation.
In no time, there’ll be no creative work done anymore.
6. Time Cheating
We see this happen every day, especially in a professional setting.
Especially where they are paid by the hour.
So people go into log hours that were not actually worked just so they can get the extra pay.
Some people even lie that they are busy with something else when given a task so that they have free time.
Anyone who engages in time cheating in an organization is lazy and not willing to grow or learn.
Another form of time cheating that pisses me off is wasting other people’s time by your inability to keep to time.
Many people plan their days by the hour, and disrupting as little as 5 minutes of their time can disrupt their entire day.
If you say you’ll do something or be somewhere in 30 minutes, please check your book and do the proper calculations to be sure you’ll get it done in 30 minutes.
Give people your actual time so that they can plan properly.
If you are given a 10-minute slot in a speaking engagement, stay with it.
Don’t want to be too intelligent and exceed your time.
You can impact lives even in two minutes.
Today, we’ve seen the various forms of cheating that people barely talk about.
And somehow, we’ve fallen short of one or two of them without knowing it.
But because we have come to the light today, we can retrace our steps and amend our ways.
And work towards being the best version of ourselves.