A 2016 study by password management firm LastPass found that while 55% of UK consumers admitted to sharing their password with others, 75% thought it was a dangerous habit.
Spouses and partners were found to be the most trustworthy with 66% sharing, followed by children at 24%, sharing among friends came at 17%, and neighbours came off as least trusted at only 0.5%.
Sharing is a great quality to bring to a relationship. It has practical benefits – you can share expenses, gadgets and that holy grail of a Netflix subscription. But, is it safe sharing passwords with your partner?
Sharing is Caring
The most common things that people share with their partners, according to our insight, are their gadgets, bath towels (!), and financial commitments. After this, sharing passwords is the most favoured type of sharing between couples.
At least 33% of Brits choose to share the passwords to their social media and email accounts with their partner. And this is apparently a worrying trend, with The New York Times reporting that teens are choosing to share their passwords with their girlfriends and boyfriends as a sign of trust. In some cases, they are even changing their passwords to be the same as one another’s, supposedly as a type of bond between them.
Why people do it
Occasionally, sharing an email password can be useful if a partner needs access to your account to get a document such as travel details. These types of scenarios are a simple matter of convenience. However, it doesn’t tend to be for this reason that most people share passwords. In fact, it’s more often done as a display of openness and trust. The logic follows that if you have nothing to hide from your partner then why bother keeping anything private?
When it comes to teens who share passwords with their partners, they are more than aware of the risks but claim this is what makes the affection behind sharing a password so much more powerful. Knowing that their digital lives are risky means sharing them with another person adds further layers of trust.
In an article in Gizmodo, Sam Biddle called the act of password sharing a ‘lynchpin of intimacy in the 21st century’.
Related: How Staying Safe Online Could Save You Money
Use caution when sharing
Being in a serious relationship, or even a full blown marriage, should come with a pretty hefty degree of trust. This trust can be put at risk if you know your partner’s passwords and go snooping through emails to ensure that he or she isn’t up to no good. The trouble with snooping is that you leave yourself open to misinterpreting information, and this could lead to all sorts of trouble founded around nothing more than lack of transparency.
Remember to use common sense when logging in to your or your partner’s accounts. For example, don’t leave private accounts logged in on public devices!
Sharing is here to stay, but make sure there are respected boundaries to prevent cyber-stalking. After all, how would you feel about someone nosing through your emails?
What do you think about sharing your passwords with a partner?
