I’m not an especially depraved individual, but there are definitely things on my hard drive that I wouldn’t want my girlfriend catching wind of. Most of us are like that, I assume. So I was kind of amazed listening to Slate discuss an emerging standard of password sharing among couples.
They note that trust can mean different things here. Where one couple might see sharing passwords as an act of trust, another might view it as an inherent expression of distrust and suspicion.
So how ’bout it, dear commenters – at what point, if any, would you be comfortable sharing your password with a significant other? [Slate]
Chris Brown
Wednesday, July 6, 2011 at 9:18 AMNever. She can have my PIN for my EFTPoS card, there’s only money there. I’d argue that my online presence, reputation and data is more important than the small amount of money in my bank account.
Sean
Wednesday, July 6, 2011 at 9:24 AMMy wife has all of my passwords, and we treat some things as joint accounts eg. two of the email accounts. But we’ve been married quite a while and most of those passwords are for things created since we married. The trick I think would be when after starting a relationship do you start sharing?
Brian H. Madsen
Wednesday, July 6, 2011 at 9:30 AMDefinitely – sharing is caring.
That being said, i’ve also been married for 12+ years as it is. Don’t see a problem with sharing my details with the missus. as a matter of fact, she has my passwords for the majority of my services (bank, internet etc etc).
Damo
Wednesday, July 6, 2011 at 9:45 AMNo issue with it. Two people knowing the pwords helps when one forgets too.
Sam
Wednesday, July 6, 2011 at 9:55 AMI happily tell my wife my password. Good thing is it’s complex enough that she can never remember it.
Bjorn
Wednesday, July 6, 2011 at 6:42 PMWin +1
Alex Lohrere
Wednesday, July 6, 2011 at 9:56 AMWe have a joint bank account but separate email, facebook, paypal accounts etc. It’s good knowing her passwords and pin numbers and her knowing mine, just for convenience if nothing else.
I have only been married for five months as of today.
Jack
Wednesday, July 6, 2011 at 11:25 AMHaha… I did that with my girlfriend in the starting years of highschool…
On myspace.
Because myspace was a big deal.
Chumly
Wednesday, July 6, 2011 at 11:48 AMWe have separate account with separate passwords but we know eahother’s passwords; it just makes life easier.
If we do ever separate it’s not too hard to change ‘em.
bri_cheese
Wednesday, July 6, 2011 at 12:26 PMI’ll happily tell my passwords to close people who use my equiment – husband, mother, etc. Although it did get me in trouble at one point, since our work has a policy of mandatory password resets every 2 months, and this irritated me, so my login passwords were typically NSFW. I had to tell my mum that my laptop password was m—–f—– so she could check her email. Oops.
Elly Hart
Wednesday, July 6, 2011 at 12:28 PMBlahaha we just had a good laugh at this :)
Jay
Wednesday, July 6, 2011 at 12:44 PMOpenness is the key.
You are going to make the biggest financial decision in your life (it’s not buying a house BTW), it’s getting married. You are about to split all of your earthy possessions.
If you can’t be open and share every part of your life then you should reconsider why you are in a long term serious relationship.
Anecdotally my partner and I share all our passwords. It makes things a lot easier when I need to grab something off her email, computer. I don’t snoop in hers and she doesn’t snoop in mine, but the openness protects us from wanting to hide things.
Scootermcduff
Wednesday, July 6, 2011 at 3:47 PMMy passwords normally are an attempt to distill confusion web requested by collegues at work (one month reset policy). So on request I will respond with passwords like “getyourown” or it’s “veryeasy” my favorite “whatsyourmumsnumber”. Keep in mind this is all over push to talk UHF radios lol.
Blake
Wednesday, July 6, 2011 at 4:33 PMI don’t log out of anything (I use chrome, she uses firefox) so we have access to each others everything pretty much.
James
Wednesday, July 6, 2011 at 5:30 PMNot sharing your passwords with your wife seems weird to me. My wife and I know and share all our passwords,we even share the pr0n collection.
Franz
Wednesday, July 6, 2011 at 8:52 PMNot useful in random situations.
Sicarius123
Wednesday, July 6, 2011 at 9:44 PMWe have some joint things, and know each others phone pins, but not passwords for email/facebook/etc.
Morbid Fred
Thursday, July 7, 2011 at 1:02 AMWho will delete all your accounts after your death? Think of password sharing with your significant other as a life insurance policy.
confusion
Sunday, July 17, 2011 at 7:50 PMMy bf and I argued about this topic. I strongly think that it is normal for married couples to share bank account passwords, Emails,etc. We will definitely pick the one we trust and get married, also, if we love someone, we love to share money. There is nothing wrong about it. He think that bank account passwords is privacy. I feel like he cares about his money then his lover. :(((