Is it ever OK to snoop on your partner?

Here's a scenario to consider: Your partner leaves his cell phone on the dining room table. His texts and emails can be easily accessed with just the touch of a fingertip. Would you look? Have you ever looked?

If you said yes, you are definitely not alone.

[sydandtaytum]

if u believe in open communication, why wouldnt u believe in being open with everything else? if u have nothing to hide, then why wouldnt u let your significant other look at your stuff? me, i'm a very private person- however, i can see letting my significant other look at my social media accounts/texts because there is nothing out of line there. if i am speaking to someone in a flirty manner, it is disrespectful to my sf, and someone should point it out so i can stop. that is how i feel about it.

women snoop because they dont want to waste their time with a guy that will only break their hearts. women have a biological clock to worry about if they want to start a family. men don't have this. men can have children or start a family at any age. 

even though i feel like snooping in general is wrong, i think it is necessary if you feel the other person might be cheating. you dont want to waste any more time in that relationship if they are cheating on you. you need to break up and move on. u can't do that unless you have it confirmed. and confronting a guy won't work because guys' general MO is DENY DENY DENY.

[christinem]

I disagree with "ignorance is bliss" when it comes to cheating...I would want to find out before we got serious and settled down and had kids. In reality, you can't have a 100% guarantee it won't come out later and I don't want to drag children through a divorce later on if it could have been prevented.  Even if they could hide it from you,  would you want someone with those values raising your children?

[TheKatlnelson]

I am all about trust and communication. If I suspect something is wrong in my relationship, I want to talk to the person and fix things, or come to an understanding. Not ok to snoop on a partner, ever. It doesn't matter if my partner is ok with me snooping or not. My personal integrity would not allow me to snoop, it is just not who I am.

[TheKatlnelson]

A parent snooping on their kids, that's a whole different subject. But basically I feel it is very different from snooping on a partner. Your kids are not your peer, your equal. Your partner is not under your authority. Your kids are so vulnerable to poor judgement and inexperience and they need parents to watch out for them for the traps out there that they may not see. A parent has the responsibility, not just the right, to know what is going on in their kid's life so that they can protect them, guide them, teach them. Being blind to what is going on in a kid's life can be the worst mistake ever.

[TheCyberwoman]

it's not about having anything to hide, but about the trust. snooping is an instant breakup offense to me, and I've held to that in practice. if I don't trust you, I'm not with you. that also means if my gut tells me something is up, I'm not snooping, I'm reevaluating if I want to be with you

[anniewu]

I don't mind my bf and my family going through my phone and social media because I have nothing to hide. Whatever is in my phone I'm comfortable to let everyone see. Now if I was cheating then I would have a problem with my bf going through my phone. Personally I feel like when u have a spouse ur suppose to share ur life with that person but all of the sudden they can't share their social media with each other? Or emails? if u want privacy then just spend the rest of ur life by urself and there is nothing wrong with that.

[melindaf]

Team Mike all the way! I would never want to waste time with someone dishonest...no matter how hard finding out/breaking up is

[karencarranza]

I agree with Dan about the ignorance is bliss but only when it comes to people talking bad about me. In a relationship on the other hand, I would want to know.

[Lurahbebeh]

I'd be perfectly fine with my fiance looking through my things, in fact I have even given him passwords in case he wants to (though I don't think he does) because to me, everything that's mine is his too. there is no "my world", it's "our world". I have all his passwords too but I have never logged in to anything because I don't feel the need to, also I'm lazy.

[jeenalynduna]

Glad that you guys finally mentioned Yi as Dan's SO. I think that you guys are such an adorable couple!

[misskarla]

Ignorance is bliss, until you get that call from the County Health Department.

[Puppyjans]

Its never OK go looking and some times you find stuff you wished you never knew believe me better not know and be happy

[Tiktok]

I like the content you guys create/ present. It's simple but enough.

[SCL]

If you think your partner is cheating on you then snooping is understandable otherwise its a big no no.

[huffletuff]

If my parents were snooping on me, honestly I think it would be even worse. And by snooping I mean like checking my emails and phone and looking for my accounts and stuff. Even when I was younger I wouldn't have been okay with that. If a kid is really young, like, too young to even be allowed to have accounts on most websites, then I think parents snooping would be fine. But for this, I think it depends a lot on the kids. Parents should have a pretty good idea of what their kid is like and who they're friends with and stuff. My parents know I've always been a good kid, they know who my friends are and if they ask about where I'm going or who I'm hanging out with I'll tell them, so if they were to start snooping on me to find out that sort of thing, yeah, I would be really upset. Since I always tell them what they ask me to and do what they want, I should be able to have my own private life (especially now since I'm 18). On the other hand, if your kid disobey's you and lies and refuses to tell you certain things, then I understand why parents would want to snoop. You should know what your kid is up to so you can properly teach them and discipline them, so if they refuse to let you know, then maybe snooping is the only way.

[foreverhobbes]

Wow, I am finally Team Mike! Ignorance is not bliss in that case...

[JulesyRS]

My husband and I share an email address and we use each other phones, Facebook, Instagram accounts etc. We have nothing to hide ☺☺.

[sheabugg]

I’m literally team mike on every single subject they talk about. It’s like he’s in my brain lol

[lucky_lola]

What Dan is trying to say is that if his S/O made a one time mistake and cheated, but it's over now, then he'd rather never know about it as long as she has detached from that affair and plans to never do it again. I totally agree with him. Why put your partner through unnecessary pain?

[loganwetterling]

People need their privacy! But within a relationship there should be no secrets, so I'm kinda torn.