Sharing Passwords: It’s The New Sex


Just kidding. It’s not really, well, not for you. But amongst teenagers, sharing passwords is apparently the best way to demonstrate your love, trust and, uh, stupidity.

The New York Times reports that the sharing of passwords for email and Facebook is becoming a growing trend amongst teens in love, as a way to demonstrate affection. Isn’t that adorable?

“It’s a sign of trust,” one teen told the New York Times about her decision to share passwords for e-mail and Facebook with her boyfriend. “I have nothing to hide from him, and he has nothing to hide from me.”

It’s not just anecdotal, either. According to Pew, 33 per cent of teens surveyed say they do it. In many ways, it’s understandable. People in love want to share.

Problem is, it might not be quite so adorable when these kids split up and start posting malicious Twitter updates. In fact, the same NYT piece lists some of the ways it can go wrong:

The stories of fallout include a spurned boyfriend in junior high who tries to humiliate his ex-girlfriend by spreading her e-mail secrets; tensions between significant others over scouring each other’s private messages for clues of disloyalty or infidelity; or grabbing a mobile phone from a former best friend, unlocking it with a password and sending threatening texts to someone else.

How nice. Of course, we could’ve them all this. But if you’re torn over which passwords you’re willing to give up to your loved one, you should read our guide. In short: let them have the Netflix password, and run screaming if they demand one for your email. [New York Times; Image: gfpeck]


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