Okay, so I’ve been thinking about this for awhile. But I’ve never been able to wrap my head around it. What’s up with joint accounts? I’m not talking bank accounts. I’m talking email and online accounts, such as Facebook.

Why would a couple need a joint account?

Is it because they DON’T trust each other and they need to set this in place? Or is it because they think they are presenting a united front (albeit a high school, “isn’t it cute…look at our joint account” front)? Is it because they now identify themselves as part of a unit, rather than separate individuals?

Really, I’d love to hear why a couple needs a joint account. For email. Or for Twitter. Or Facebook. Why?

I love my husband. But he has (gasp) his own email. And his own FB page. He has tons more friends than I do on FB. He’s more interested in keeping in contact with them. And while I can see his page, I don’t look at it that often, to be honest.

Same with email. If I wanted his password, he’d give it to me in a heartbeat. But I don’t need it and I don’t want it. He can converse via email with as many high school buddies, golfing pals and Army Guard colleagues as he’d like. Or what if his daughters want to send him an email? It’s their right to have a relationship directly with their father, without me having to be in on every little thing. In the end, he’s a big boy and I trust him.

Could we get a joint account? Sure. But WHY? I forward him anything that he needs to see. I talk to him (novel concept, I’m sure) about emails and anything pertinent. Heck, most of my email is on our desktop computer, in my MS Outlook box which is kept open 24/7 and doesn’t have a password on it. So really, he could access it any time he’d like. I have nothing to hide.

I have a sister who has a joint email account with her husband. I never understood why. But it definitely has put a crimp in what I send her over the years. I have no idea who is reading the email. And it’s not like I’m going to rip her husband up one side and down another…but maybe I want to write about personal “girly” stuff…well, I don’t because I figure my brother-in-law is reading it. Ick.

And now, a friend has opened a joint FB page with her man. We’re not in our teens. And I don’t like feeling I have to address the both of them if I post a message…what if I want to write to her only? Then I feel like I’m being rude because it is the page for BOTH of them, right? Annoying.

Okay, tell me I am way off base here. Tell me I’m being silly (and, usually I am, so you telling me that wouldn’t bug me anyway). I just don’t see why people can’t remain separate entities (just like they were born into this world) even when they are part of a couple. And if they don’t trust each other enough to have separate accounts then 1-they have more problems than joint accounts will fix and 2-they know little about technology (i.e. you can have multiple accounts, people).