photo via flickr

A recent survey by Pew Internet and the American Life Project found that one in three teens had shared a password (email, Facebook, etc.) with a friend or boyfriend or girlfriend. Apparently sharing your password is the new way to express intimacy, to prove to your partner that you have nothing to hide. Um, hello Facebook hacking! (Aside: Did you know that if you work at Facebook HQ and accidentally leave your FB account logged in when you leave your desk, some jokester colleague will update your status to say that you are pooping? Apparently it’s a company tradition.) Anyway. Maybe teens don’t have any credit card digits to lose just yet, but identify theft (or even just unauthorized identity borrowing) can suck in junior high too. We hope we don’t need to explain what a terrible idea this is.

But just in case we do — and we get it: exchanging letterman jackets and class rings is so last century — here are five better ways to express your intimacy, for the love-struck teen inside us all.

1. Get tested together for STDs. To clarify: forgoing the condom (before getting tested) doesn’t prove you have nothing to hide — it just makes you look like a dumb-ass.
2. Put your partner at the top of your speed dial list. You can even give them a special ring-tone.
3. Tag them in a cheeky status update on Facebook. Or proclaim your love @ them in a Tweet.
4. Get matching henna tattoos. Because matching permanent tattoos ranks right up there with sharing your password: 99% of you will come to regret it. Can you say “Wino Forever”?
5. Don’t have anything to hide! Don’t cheat, don’t lie, don’t talk trash behind someone’s back. If you’re honest to the core, you won’t need to prove it, because honesty speaks for itself.

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