Sharing Your Password: Trust or Disaster?

Sharing your passwords? Yay? Nay?

Woman snooping phone while man sleeps
(Image credit: Courtesy of Getty)

One of my one-syllable named ex-boyfriends always said that when I didn't give my cellphone password, it meant that I was hiding something. If anything, I was most likely hiding text messages to my mom about how he annoyed the heck out of me when he told me to work out more in the dead of winter or when he made me hang out with his friends who only liked to eat at Hooters. But I maintain that it is not imperative to share a cell phone password with one's flame.

Apparently I'm in the minority. Couples aren't just sharing passwords, they are sharing entire email accounts and social media profiles, according to the Pew Research'slatest study on the topic. In committed relationships, 67 percent of couples share their password while 27 percent share their email account. For the orderly types, 11 percent share their online calendar, while 11 percent share a social media profile.

Personally, sharing social media profiles weirds me out. It's as if you are joined at the keyboard with your significant other. I can see the point in sharing an email but then again, why is it so hard to cc someone? Less verbal communication seems like a horrible road to disaster.

In addition, 10 percent of users in relationships said that the Internet "had a major impact on their relationship" and eight percent have argued with a partner about their excessive Internet usage.

For me, there is no bigger deal breaker (besides stealing seats from pregnant women on the subway) than a guy excessively checking his phone while we're together. Whether or not it's intentional, it feels like he's saying, "This piece of plastic with buttons is more interesting than your face. Or our relationship."

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