I am 16 years old, turning 17 in exactly 4 months, and I went onto my dads computer today to learn how to make something in blender for a youtube thumbnail. I was trying to find steam and I went to “desktop 2” and there I saw, tucked away half off the screen on the right, a file. Only half of the words were visible. I saw, “Chat…” on the file, so I pulled it out so I could read it fully and it read, “Chat to women online…”.
It was a google Chrome link saved on the desktop. Curiosity got the better of me and I opened it and it brought me to a search result page with a bunch of dating sites. I tried to open one of them but they wouldn’t load for some reason.
I went back to the desktop to see more information about the file, and it told me when it was created, so I went onto google and went to his search history and scrolled down to the date the file was created. I saw a bunch of links to searches for escort ads, erotic/ sensual massages, dating sites, “sexology”, etc.
I deleted my search history so that he wouldn’t know I was snooping, and closed out the file, and went back to desktop 1 and left everything where I found it. I put the mac book back where I found it and went on a walk.
After I got back, I went on his laptop and clicked the escort ad to see if he had made an account but I couldn’t tell whether or not he had made one.
This isn’t the first time I’ve had suspicions. When I was about 8 or 9, I was on my dads phone and I saw a dating app on his phone. When I told him he acted like he didn’t know how and why it was there, and deleted it.
I was planning on investigating further to find proof that he was/ is cheating, but I ultimately decided against that because if that kind of news came out, it would rip our family apart, and I didn’t want to be the one to keep information that had the potential to rip my family apart a secret, or be the one to share it and be caught in the crossfire. Without my dad, my siblings would be heartbroken, my mom would be heartbroken, our living situation and/ or financial situation would change very fast. There are more cons than pros, it’s a lose-lose in my opinion.
I would feel extremely guilty if I kept it a secret, especially if I didn’t tell my mom, but I don’t want the family to be ripped apart and completely screwed in every aspect. And I can’t confront my dad about it because he is very manipulative and emotionally immature and me confronting him would probably backfire on me.
Should I tell my mom or not? If so, how do I tell her? Should I show her what I saw on the computer?
Comments
Tell your mom exactly what you told us. She deserves to know. It’s her decision as to what happens.
Do you have siblings? I’m the one who discovered my dad cheating, talked with my older sibling first, then we decided to go to my mom together. Sorry you’re going through this.
maybe he is just masturbating and without a proof you will just F your life.