So for those of you who aren't familiar with the concept of a safety net, it's basically a person that you can fall back on if things with whomever you are with don't work out.

Usually you would keep in contact with this person, just enough so you know that they would be there for you if you wanted them to be.

The concept of the safety net has become far too common in society today.

Is there something wrong with talking to someone? No, but there is if you are just stringing them along because you want to know you have a backup just in case.

Not only is it not fair to 'the safety net' but it also isn't fair to the person you are dating.

It shows that you may not be 100% committed to them and that you may think that things may not work out.

Of course you can never be totally sure that you will be with someone for the long run, but if you could defiantly see it not ending well, then having a safety net is just your start to distancing from that relationship, which in the end will hurt it even more.

I think that this concept is something that almost all of us are familiar with and whether people feel ashamed of it or what not is up to them, but if it affecting your current relationship then it needs to stop.

Just think about how your significant other would feel if they really knew just how much you guys actually talked.

In a way it could also be emotionally cheating depending on the situation. Of course if you count emotionally cheating as cheating, that is up to you, but to some that can be even worse than 'normal' cheating.

Plus the concept of it is what adds to some trust issues in relationships if you aren't totally transparent about things. Everyone knows that it is the ones that they are close with and talk a lot with that it is the ones you need to watch out for. And while that may just seem like a common plot in movies it happens far too often.

I get it though, we are all just people who want stability, but the bottom line is sometimes that can hurt the relationship that you are in and it isn't always worth it.