With cell phones and social media being such a huge part in our millennial lives these days, it also comes with a significant effect on our love relationships.
It is a very modern quandary, but the cell phone has become one of the most prevalent measurements of trust in the dating world. Will your significant other be one of the 5 fingerprint sensors able to unlock your iPhone? Are you logged into your social media accounts on their phone?
To get an insight on how you all feel about the matter, I took an Instagram poll asking how people felt about phone privacy in relationships. With the most diverse results I've ever received in a poll for this series, 48% of surveyors said "My phone is their phone" and 52% said, "My phone is private".
Clearly, there are a lot of different mindsets and opinions when it comes to this debate, and maybe you have even realized you and your significant other have disputed over this. So to understand your partner better, it is important to understand where they stand when it comes to phone privacy.
The number of people who voted that "My phone is their phone" said they saw no problem at all letting their phone be free range to their significant other. They said they didn't view it as a problem because they didn't need to hide anything.
But the other end of the debate for the people who voted "My phone is private" argue that they don't have anything to hide, they just feel their partner should trust them enough to not have to look through their phone.
Handing over your phone to allow your partner to look through your text messages, pictures, and call history may show them you have nothing to hide and there are no secrets between you. But at the same time, if you truly trust one another, is there any reason to look through each other's phone?
For 48% of the voters, you have no problem at all handing your phone over for your partner to have free range of. In your mind, you and your significant other are in a trustworthy, committed relationship and there are no secrets to hide, not even on your phone. If this measurement of trust works for your relationship- establish with your partner that your phone is open to them, but also make it clear that unwarranted snooping isn't cool.
Your partner knowing your phone password is one thing, but going through your messages and other apps on your phone without your knowledge or consent is where the cycle of distrust begins. You should be confident in having nothing to hide from your partner, but they should also respect your privacy where they're not just looking through your phone for no reason.
A very common response I saw from the voters who said their phone was private, explained that conversations between you and your friends should be kept private, even to just protect their privacy. You may not personally have anything to hide about yourself from your significant other, but some things friends tell you may need to be kept private for their sake.
If you have yet to encounter this problem in your relationship, prevent it from being a problem by understanding these reasonings behind each side!
