6 Reasons Not to Hack Your Partner's Phone

Raise your hand if this sounds familiar: Kimberly snooped through her boyfriend’s phone and found something she didn’t like. She’s been obsessing over it for days, wondering whether that LOL was really just a friendly laugh. “Does it look suggestive to you? Do you think he’s really at the gym now? Or is he with that girl from work that he said LOL to?”

In the world of smartphones, dating is a whole new game. We text instead of call. We find perfect matches with the swipe of our thumbs. We start (and end) relationships by pressing “send”.

Where are the boundaries? With the simple press of a button, you have access to everything your loved one does on their phone—every tweet, text, email, and phone call (do those still happen?).

Sure, you’re curious. But should you peek? No!

Let us save you some misery, embarrassment, and paranoia. Here are 6 reasons you shouldn’t snoop through your loved one’s phone.

1) YOU MISREAD SITUATIONS.

You stumble upon a text message. It’s from a male. You go into instant boyfriend freak out mode. And then… you feel embarrassed.

“What do you mean Ahmed wants to get lunch? Did you tell Ahmed you have a boyfriend? Wait… he’s your cousin? Oh.”

How do you explain reading that text message? Chances are, saying your eyes “accidentally” fell upon the one message from another man (which was incidentally received last week) won’t fly.

2) IT STARTS A VICIOUS CYCLE.

First you’re using your girlfriend’s phone to check the scores while she picks out an outfit for dinner. Then you’re scrolling through her texts. Next thing you know, you’re practicing your ninja skills every time she leaves the room—you silently summersault over to her phone at lightning speed, just to see if anything is amiss. Meanwhile, your heart hammers as you listen for her footsteps coming down the hall.

Be warned: if she doesn’t get you, the anxiety of getting caught will.

3)YOU START TO KNOW THINGS YOU SHOULDN’T… AND IT’S REALLY CREEPY.

You know those times that you stalk someone’s Facebook, and then accidentally rat yourself out by knowing too many details about their vacation last year with their friends? “That bowtie pasta you ate at that Italian restaurant last February looked really good. Did you get dessert too?”

Imagine that scenario, but ten times worse. Because the information you find in the phone is private, not posted on Facebook for everyone to see.

4) YOU LEARN THINGS ABOUT YOUR SIGNIFICANT OTHER THAT YOU DIDN’T WANT TO KNOW.

Look, we’re all a little quirky. Our phones have become a diary for our weirdness. We have silly pictures to cheer us up on a bad day, notes in the notebook app, inside jokes with friends, and not to mention a music library with that super secret “Sob-fest” playlist for the days you just can’t deal with life.

Would you want your significant other finding your sob-fest playlist? We didn’t think so.

5) YOU LEARN THINGS ABOUT YOURSELF THAT YOU DIDN’T WANT TO KNOW.

Remember that time Jimmy really pushed your buttons because he watched The Voice without you? In the heat of the moment you texted your best friend a ton of horrible things that you didn’t really mean but had to say—like how he’s a rotten, TV spoiling jerk with no feelings.

Well, unless you want to hear about all of your flaws (like that time you ate Jimmy’s bag of Doritos), you’re better off not snooping.

6) IT’S A BREACH OF PRIVACY AND TRUST.

All jokes aside, relationships are about trust. It takes a long time to build this trust, and just a moment to destroy it. Don’t let that moment be you snooping through your loved one’s phone.

As scary as it can be to place your heart in someone’s hands and trust them not to break it, it’s well worth building a strong, trusting relationship. Besides, would you want your significant other to invade your privacy? Not a chance!

Respect each other’s boundaries and build your relationship on a solid foundation of trust. Say no to snooping.

Agree? Disagree? Let me know.