Can't A Man Have A Hidden Folder With Memories, Some Explicit, Without His Girlfriend Getting Jealous?

I remain hopeful that we'll reach a point, maybe not in my lifetime or yours, where we can store memories in a hidden folder on our phones without a jealous partner getting upset about it.

We're not there yet.

That day could arrive when the human race is walking around with computer chips implanted in their heads to connect with the internet and to store such memories of those we've loved and lost.

Everyone should be entitled to their memories, even if they're stored in a hidden folder on a phone. (Image Credit: Getty)

This 34-year-old girlfriend doesn't know if she can move past what she found on her 46-year-old boyfriend of two years' phone. Was he cheating? Nope. She didn’t even have to snoop to make the discovery.

She wanted to see his phone and he handed it over. That's not the act of a guilty person. She knows the passcode, because that's the kind of guy he is.

What was she looking for? She never says on Reddit. She is too busy making a big deal about the memories her boyfriend has locked away for safe keeping.

"When I️ went in and used his code to unlock the hidden photos folder it was full of selected photos of girls he’d slept with - from screenshotted Instagram selfies, pictures of exes they’d sent, photos of them with PETS? And FRIENDS?, sex videos," she writes.

"Even I️ was in the folder from when we first started dating - as if I️ was a collectible. He claims it was stuff he hid from his main camera roll and that it was a dumb collection he just had as memories, but that he didn’t go back to look at it when we were together."

Deleting The Folder Might Not Delete The Problem

I can almost hear Maury Povich. And not the classic "that was a lie" line either. It's the one where he revealed that the guest was telling the truth. 

She should be flattered that she's in the hidden memories folder. Trust me, not everyone is in that folder.

Was there a video of a girl that he once dated in the folder that she sent him at the beginning of his relationship with his current girlfriend? Yes, but how long ago was that?

It's nothing but her dancing at the bar. One last one for the memory folder is all. It meant nothing then, it means nothing now other than it's something he gets to look back on one day.

Besides, "he didn't have any photos of her." That's called a reasonable response. Was he really not supposed to save the video and lock it away for safe keeping? 

They haven’t talked since and there are no other additions to the folder either. Still not good enough.

"We have become best friends. I️ love him deeply. But since this happened two months ago, I️ can’t get the images out of my head," she continues.

"Many of them were in between photos of his ex - as in they’d break up for a couple months and he’d sleep with new women and keep them, then get back with his ex and there would be pictures of her."

He owned up to it and, in a huge mistake, he deleted the hidden folder for her. I really hope he has a backup somewhere because, despite all that, she's still contemplating whether she can stay with him.

He's remorseful for the misdeed of being a person who likes memories. He's been a good boyfriend, according to her, and yet here she is thinking about leaving him. He's in a no-win situation.