Therefore they, as well, end up indulging in activities that they stay away from in real life since it ends up imparting them a fulfillment that they do not achieve during the course of normal personal interaction. No matter what the reasoning may be behind such activities, the fact remains that online relationships have grown in popularity among people. It is no longer the thing for "bored and lonely- (Gavin, 2001, p. 623) since more that "60% of the cyberspace population,"" (Wolak, Mitchell, Finkelhor, 2002, p. 41) which is around 262 million, use the internet to form relationships. Nowadays it involves people from all walks of life. This may allude towards the positives of forming virtual relationships, but there is no denying of the fact that in ways such activities still pose the potential for harm.
Many online relationships involve deception at some level. They are still viewed with certain amount of skepticism since the various online identities can either be fabricated or disguised. This is where disinhibition comes into play: individuals using internet often use it as a form of escape or diversion, therefore they prefer to act differently than who they may actually be. One could say that they use the technique of pretension to gain online social acceptance as it may be lacking in real life. Sometimes they prefer to maintain anonymity due to safety concerns. This may not seem to be a disinhibited behavior, but it still involves deception which forms the core of disinhibition in cyberspace. Online relationships allow individuals to perform activities which they otherwise could not enjoy, namely, cybersex. The frustrations that individuals may have encountered due to the lack of sexual activities in their regular relationships ends up finding an opening through cybersex. Cybersex provides an additional means of "[exploring] one's own sexual desires- (Baker, 2002, p. 363) since it may have not been fully delved into during real relationships.