August 28, 2012 9:45 am
Your Significant Other Might be Spying on You
Image: Daniel Imfeld
Your boyfriend leaves his phone on the nightstand or kitchen counter. While he’s in the other room, do you sneak a peak at his messages? About a third of you might, the CBC reports.
A survey done by a dating website asked 2,258 Americans whether they thought it was okay to snoop on their partner’s phone or email. They found that 36 percent of their users between ages 18 and 24 thought that electronic snooping was fine. Women are more prone to snooping than men, and older users (over 55) were less likely to sneak a peak.
The question was a little more nuanced than simply asking whether they would look at their partners electronic activity, though. Users were asked to agree or disagree with a statement that said snooping was acceptable if bad behavior was suspected. So if the hubs is behaving strangely, his phone and email are fair game.
Online dating websites that ask their users questions are often great places to mine for dating data. OkCupid has a whole blog about what its users are like. They’ve defined the best photographs for men and women, and the best questions to ask on a first date simply based on statistical analysis of their users. In July, eHarmony released data on whether people stalk their dates online before going out with them. About 43 percent of men and 54 percent of women do.
It’s easy to stalk someone online these days, and especially tempting if you’re trying to decide whether to date them. And if the snooping statistics are true, that trend seems to carry over into dating as well.
More from Smithsonian.com:
Inviting Writing: If It’s a First Date, It Must Be Sushi
Sign up for our free email newsletter and receive the best stories from Smithsonian.com each week.
1 Comment »
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI
I’m 60 yrs old with a husband that was becoming increasingly secretive and distant. After a puzzling cell phone bill, it seemed prudent to do a little checking on my own.
There was good reason & we should be divorced by the end of the year. (I have never wanted to “share” my husband – and from reading his words, I don’t want to keep him either – she can have him!)
Comment by anon for a reason — August 28, 2012 @ 11:21 pm