By: Meghan Mathias 

This may go without saying, but the cons of sharing your online passwords greatly outweigh the possible pros. Sharing your passwords can lead to various forms of online scams and threats, as well as the vulnerability of all personal information on your account.

Kids may find it difficult to understand the importance of keeping their passwords safe, especially when it becomes a fun game to give their close friends access to their accounts. They may think nothing dangerous can come of this, and it very well may be innocent fun. However, these cons are enough to discourage this behavior altogether.

Cons of Sharing Your Password

  • Your account is no longer secure
  • Even if you gave out your password for the purpose of allowing access to one specific part of your account, that person now has access to your entire account as well as all accounts linked to it, even financial information
  • Anything the person with access to your account does on it will come across as something you did on your own account, which can be incriminating
  • This person now has the ability to change your password and lock you out of your own account

The only exception to the hard-fast rule of password safety exists between concerned parents and young children on the internet. Possibly the only acceptable pro to sharing a password is that, when shared with a parent or trusted guardian, access to a young child’s account can potentially prevent inappropriate interactions, scams, conversations, posts, etc. that the child may not understand as harmful.

Discussion Questions

  1. Have you ever given out your password to a friend? Why is that a privacy issue?
  2. Do your parents know your passwords for all of your online accounts? Why is this a good safety precaution?
  3. Do you have a favorite password you like to use for every online account? Why might it be important to have different passwords for each account?
  4. Do you have a hard time remembering all of your passwords? Why is it a bad idea to write down your passwords?

Sources

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