The differences between being private in a relationship and keeping it a secret

But if you’re doing these things, you might be taking your “privacy” to the extreme by being overly secretive about your relationship.

Here’s a list of them below:

You deliberately avoid mentioning your partner

Every story you tell is always about “I” and not “we”, even if your partner was directly involved in the event. It’s normal to want to maintain some autonomy when you’re in a relationship, but when you have to twist and turn the way you speak to make sure that you don’t give away the fact that you’re dating someone, you know exactly what you’re doing and you know that it’s wrong.

You say you’re single when you’re asked about your relationship status

When someone asks if you’re seeing anyone, no one expects you to whip out a flash drive with a PowerPoint presentation of “The Entire History of Me & My One True Love.” But saying you’re single when you’re not is sketchy as hell. Whether you’re lying to keep the attention of the hottie at the bar or because you worry about what your friends will think, it’s still a lie and your partner probably wouldn’t approve.

You’re active on social media but there’s no trace of your S.O

Not everyone puts their entire life on Facebook and Instagram, so it’s understandable that you might not want to upload selfies with #MCM every week. But if you can’t go a day without sharing your thoughts and camera roll with the world, you can’t tell me that it’s just a coincidence that your partner doesn’t even exist according to your social media profiles.

No one in your social circle has interacted with you partner

If you’ve been dating for a year but they haven’t met your friends or family, why the hell not? Long-distance couples get a pass for this one, but for most serious couples, it’s weird when the people who are closest to you have no physical proof that your partner is a real, flesh-and-blood human being. It’s time to ask yourself why you’re hiding your partner from your loved ones.

You refer to your boyfriend or girlfriend using a more platonic term

Do you introduce your romantic partner to your buddies, colleagues, and acquaintances as your “friend?” Do you switch from calling them “babe” to calling them “buddy” as soon as there are people around? If so, you’re being secretive about your relationship.

You hide your partner’s social media activity about you

Not being a Facebook fanatic yourself is one thing, but it gets weird when you start untagging yourself from photos and status updates your partner posts. It just looks like you’re trying to bury evidence that you’re together.