The average American has been locked out of 10 online accounts in the past month alone, according to new research.
The survey of 2,005 Americans found this issue doesn’t appear to be going anywhere, as 63% of respondents surveyed said this is a recurring problem for them.
Commissioned by OnePoll on behalf of LastPass, the results found memorizing passwords is so difficult that two in three respondents (65%) said they will forget it unless they write it down somewhere.
In fact, more than half of respondents said they have to execute at least five password resets each month on average, spending at least 10 minutes each time doing so.
But that won’t solve anything permanently, as 57% said they will forget their new password immediately upon resetting it.
As a result, 58% said they struggle to feel productive while working remotely.
“Password anxiety” is a real phenomenon, as 64% said they will avoid visiting certain websites or accounts where they’ve forgotten their password.
Accounts people avoid most often if they’ve forgotten the log-in credentials were found to be their personal email (38%), their bank account (35%) and their utility bills account (35%).
Sixty-five percent said they experience a moment of panic when they realize their computer or mobile device doesn’t have a password stored for a website they want to log into.
Interestingly, 57% said that if they ever lost their phone, they’d be locked out of most of their accounts.
When it comes to having access to their passwords, 65% have been in a situation where they needed digital access to their passwords and important documents.
“For many, getting locked out of their accounts is an all too common occurrence,” said a spokesperson for LastPass. “In today’s digital, remote world, people need to be able to access their passwords, their data and documents at any time, from anywhere.”
Unfortunately, seven in 10 Americans feel like they have too many different passwords to remember. Because of this, 60% admit they tend to be lazy when it comes to creating unique and secure passwords.
For simplicity’s sake, the average respondent said they use the same password for six different accounts, spanning both work and personal, with 68% saying that when the passwords are different, they are still very similar.
With the majority of Americans spending more time online working and virtually socializing, of course, password sharing is necessary, and inevitable.
Forty-nine percent of those surveyed said they have had a need to share a password with someone else, including their children (33%), significant others (30%) and co-workers (23%).
People admit to sharing the password to things such as their Amazon account (25%), streaming service (37%) and even their personal email (38%) with someone else.
Nearly 80% of respondents said they use six streaming services, but 43% only pay for three of those services themselves.
The majority of people surveyed (77%) agreed it would be beneficial to have a secure way to give a loved one access to their passwords, especially in case of emergency.
In today’s digital world, sadly, a third of respondents said they have fallen for a phishing or other type of online scam.
And 69% would like to be alerted if a password was compromised so that they could take action to protect themselves
“People are spending more time online than ever before — for work, school, connecting with family and friends,” added a spokesperson for LastPass. “It is possible to take control of your digital life and that starts with proper password hygiene.
“Keeping your digital information safe, secure and easily accessible across all devices is easier than you may think. With the right tools, people can stop wasting time getting locked out of their accounts, resetting and reusing weak passwords, and start to secure their information effectively and efficiently.”
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