Locks, relationships, and our smartphones - how they all intertwine with one another

Every day, we report on some of the intense news surrounding the always unpredictable mobile world, as we should no doubt since it’s in our veins to do so. However, with this piece, we’re taking a different spin on the usual geeky news that we’re so fond of reporting. Frankly, we can talk about some cool new innovation that’s about to hit the mainstream on a smartphone, or get all giddy about the next big thing to come out, but instead, we’re hitting it straight to the heart with a piece that’s more personal to some people.

As we look back at the CTIA keynote that we covered last week, we weren’t initially as concerned hearing about Sprint CEO Dan Hesse talking about security and privacy in the mobile landscape, and instead, we kept on gravitating towards the need for more spectrum from Dan Mead of Verizon. However, the more we thought about it, Dan Hesse clearly had a point regarding mobile security. For most people, the first line of defense is nothing more than a simple lock of some sort on their device.

We’re not sure how some of you deal with your smartphones, but seeing that we’re constantly sending important messages, emails, and other content, it’s crucial for us to have some kind of lock on our device – even more when the unfortunate situation of losing our phone happens. However, if you’re starting a relationship with someone, it might throw off an alarm of some kind with your significant other. In our always connected digital world consisting of text messaging, email, and social networking, it’s easy for anyone to question one’s trustfulness.

Losing a phone contributes to the need for a phone lock

So why do we have locks on our devices? Obviously, there are a host of reasons that we can go through, but for argument’s sake, we’ll simply talk about the ones that cater around relationships. First and foremost, it might simply be none other than a natural inclination for people, as they’ve been accustomed to having it – due to either losing a phone in the past or being a victim of identity theft. In that rare event that your device is lost, or worse, stolen by someone, they can seemingly have a field day going through all of your personal stuff. From photos, messages, to contact information, your stolen phone could undoubtedly prove to be a headache in more ways than none – hence why some people opt to put on a lock afterwards.

"It's because of my job"

Secondly, people have passwords/locks because they’re required by their job to have them. To tell you the truth, it’s almost unfathomable in this day and age to find a business oriented user to not have a low level lock in place. Of course, it’s a valid argument to have a lock in this case scenario, as work email is regarded as a highly sensitive and private thing with all companies that employ some kind of enterprise service with its business devices. So yeah, it’s really a no-brainer for people to complain why there are passwords with these things.

Nevertheless, we, as human beings, are curious entities that have this undying urge to find out what’s behind closed doors. Sure, we’ve heard about those stories about some person hiding their secret love affair from their significant other thanks to a lock, but in the end, enough persistence and sleuthing from the other person can always unravel it all. People say it’s a matter of trust, which all relationships require in order to survive. Then again, there are just some people out there that can be bit overbearing or nagging when it comes to asking why one actually needs to have a lock on their smartphone.

Compromise, compromise, compromise

In that scenario where someone is understanding enough to either remove the lock or provide the password, the significant other will naturally be pleased by the receptive gesture – and of course, that’s what relationships are all about, which is to make compromises in life. Just when you think it’s enough to make the other person happy, they might want even more to fully ease their thoughts. Seriously, we’re not sure how some of you deal with that, but when is enough really enough? Think about for a moment, but what happens if your significant other wants more – like the passwords to your email, or how about your Facebook or Twitter accounts?

As we’ve mentioned, we’re able to connect with people through a myriad of portals, but when someone isn’t happy with knowing the lock code to your phone, would you willfully provide them with whatever they want? In the end, it’s all going to come down to trust, that one invisible bond between two individuals that keeps things stable. Looking forward to the future, it’s almost a crazy thought to find someone using a smartphone without a lock – even when mobile payments are expected to make a boom. Using your phone to make a purchase, we’re certain that a password or lock will be in place no matter what. So with that in mind, we ask you, our readers, do you have a lock on your device? And if you have any other reasons why you have one, please don't be afraid to share them with us.