Our daily life has changed greatly in recent years with the near-universal presence of increasingly smart phones in our pockets (at least when they are big enough). Couple life is also affected, but not always for the better.
According to a recent IFOP survey for the Geek’s Diarylovers are less and less hesitant to infiltrate the smartphones of their halves to, in general, find answers to their suspicions, but also for much more serious reasons.
A generational phenomenon
Known as snooping, spying on your partner’s smartphone is quite common among French people: 4 out of 10 admit to having done it before in their lifetime. If, in a little more than half of the cases, we speak of exceptional procedures, for the other half, it is a question of occasional or even regular measures.
However, the figures are not the same according to age and sex. While snooping is more common among young people, it is also more common among women. Thus, among those under 35, nearly one in two men (56%) and two in three women (67%) practice it, compared to 30 and 36% respectively among those over 35. On the other hand, the trend is reversed among those under 25, where men in a relationship are those who spy the most (49% for them against 36% for women).
Louise Jussian, head of the IFOP study, comments on these figures: ” It is clear that snooping is a generational phenomenon closely linked to the importance that smartphones have taken on in the daily lives of young people, an essential communication tool that contains the essentials – photos, messages, social networks… – of their lives. respondent “.
Exchanges with others as an object of interest
When one of the two partners takes control of the other’s device, it is mainly to monitor the latter’s communications (private messages, call logs, contacts). But also to look at his recorded photos and videos, or to scrutinize his presence on social networks.
However, young people under 25 stand out once again, as underlined by the Geek Diary : “ Among the latter, the activity of the – or the – partner on social networks is particularly scrutinized: thus, 60% of women in this age group (compared to 42% of men) are interested in the people he/she she follows or who follows him and more than half of women (55%) have checked his presence on social networks “.
This attraction for the social life of the other seems however justified, according to the point of view. Indeed, one in two respondents said they found something wrong on their partner’s device, and cheating is said to be a common offense here. As reported by Geek Diary“ spying revealed seduction games for nearly one in three people (29%) and, for one in five, maintained contact with an ex (21%) or infidelity (19%) “.
In addition, men are more often caught in the act of consulting pornographic sites (22% against 14%) and being present on dating sites (18% against 14%). While women are more likely to spend money on the sly on joint accounts (22% vs. 13%) and to denigrate their spouse to other people (16% vs. 13%). Apparently, clichés don’t die hard in France…
An object capable of breaking couples, and much more…
In the end, these practices are not without consequences, and 16% of respondents said they argued after their partner looked at their phone. In 6% of cases, it would even have led to a breakup. Here again, the under 25s stand out with respective figures of 31% and 15%.
But the survey is not limited to highlighting the extent of snooping on couples. Indeed, Louise Jussian points out that “ breaches of digital intimacy can also be symptomatic of violence or control within couples “. Before adding: We note that people who have been victims of physical and/or psychological violence by their partner are also much more likely to have suffered an intrusion into their telephone without their knowledge. “.
Thus, among the victims of conjugal violence, 52% declare having been spied on, which is almost double the number of the rest of the respondents (27%). Similarly, 35% had their mobile phone confiscated. These figures are also high for people manipulated by their partner or isolated from the rest of their family by them. Jussian concludes: It is clear that the smartphone of the other is not only an object of curiosity and suspicion, but also a means of blackmail and isolation “.
Source : The Geek’s Diary
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