UNDATED – You might take great pains to protect passwords, but some teens now share them as a sign of trust and love.
A Pew Internet and American Life Project survey of teens, parents and counselors finds the practice of sharing passwords to email, Facebook or phone accounts is widespread, according to the The New York Times .
Despite the popularity of the practice, a columnist for the tech news website Gizmodo tells the Times everyone he knows who has done it regrets it.
If a relationship falls apart the access those passwords provide can be used maliciously.
Sharing passwords can have a constructive purpose. Some teens tell The Times they give passwords to a friend as a way to lock themselves out of distracting social media accounts if they need to study for finals.
When all the studying is done and test taking over, the gate keeper friend shares the new passwords to let account owners back in.
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