To think Facebook 'marking yourself safe' option is overused?

[iismum]

Sure, it's fantastic if, for example, you were at the Ariane Grande concert or it you spend a lot of time in the vicinity of London Bridge and there was a real chance you might have got caught up in the terror attacks and people would genuinely worry. But I feel like people obsessively marking themselves safe just because they live within 20 miles of the event when there was practically no chance they were involved just feeds the general hysteria and makes people feel that no one is safe.

To be honest, I was not beside myself worrying if my friend in leafy south-west London who probably crosses London Bridge twice a year was safe. What happened is horrendous, but 6 people died. Practically everyone in London is safe. I feel like people's need to mark themselves safe is increasing the impact of these attacks when we should be trying to do the opposite.

YABU. I live on the outskirts of London, but travel via London Bridge for work. I was meant to be out in London last night by myself, getting a train to London Bridge and grabbing a bus from the bridge itself. As chance would have it, I decided to get an Overground train instead (too lazy to cross platforms to grab the London Bridge train). I would have been standing on London Bridge waiting for bus at the exact time it happened.

I came out of Shoreditch High Street station and it was only when I bothered to checked my phone some time later (after seeing lots of worried faces and people obsessively on their phones at the bar) that I saw a whole bunch of texts and calls from family. I stayed out, it took ages to get a cab home and my phone battery eventually gave out.

I actually posted on Facebook that I was ok before my phone died and before they had the chance to activate the safety check in. The thing is though - I don't live anywhere near the area and people weren't to know whether I was out in London last night. But I was. I'm sure there have been a couple of eye rolls from people seeing me posting I was safe, but I'm glad that my friends and family care enough to check on me, and that there's a facility that can easily help put their minds at rest.

I know at least two people who were on and around London Bridge when it happened, and are traumatised by what they saw. They were both able to mark themselves safe on Facebook. That's hopefully at least one or two fewer calls for the emergency services to have to field from their worried friends and family.

A friend of mine, who as far as I know is not away at the moment (and I'm quite sure she isn't), tagged herself as safe. In Swansea.

YANBU, but it can be useful. I live in Surrey, don't know London particularly well. I have a friend who lives in Central London, probably in the grand scheme of things miles away from the attack. But she was my first thought when I saw "London" and I messaged her to check she was okay. She used the Facebook feature in the end and it was a relief. Our mutual friends and her family are all Irish and wouldn't know the difference or proximity between Westminster Bridge and London Bridge, for example.

I'm in a London but nowhere near (though was at the catherdral a week ago)
Which cathedral? Southwark? That's just round the corner from London Bridge.

I have several friends in London, they live closish to the attacks. However who knows where they are. I don't follow their every move. It's been good for my circle. I haven't had to call my brother who lives in London because he marked himself as safe.

I shall call him later of course but it's good to see.

I have too seen several people Facebook marking as safe when they live/work fucking hundreds of miles away.

What annoys me most though is everyone changing their profile pictures within minutes ... so everyone has a fucking London skyline silhouette frame around their grinning mugshots. Yes I know AIBU but it's fucking annoying and attention seeking. Clearly I don't care/have any empathy if I don't change mine.... raah!

YABU. I'm sick of the fucking sniping on MN just lately.

If people want to click a bloody link to put their families minds at rest then where's the harm.

I think people who are from other parts of the world (or even the UK) appreciate knowing that their loved ones from London are safe.

I think it's a good feature, as long as it isn't overused or to attract "me too" attention. It will save the emergency phonelines from being swamped.

Several decades ago I was in a place where I could plausibly have been killed. My mother heard about it on the news, phoned my father at work, who then took two secretaries off their normal duties and set them to repeatedly contacting the emergency services, hospitals, etc. As it happened, I missed the fatal event by a few minutes and was unaware of it until later that day. Social media would have been very helpful and reassuring, and would have saved a lot of time and worry.

I'm new to FB was waiting for it to take off before I joined and noticed this this morning. I'm in favour of it. Yes you'll get people in improbable locations using it when they don't need to, but so what?

I'm in SE London, about 10 minutes away from London Bridge by train. After Manchester my (admittedly neurotic) DM (abroad) texted to check we were OK - people travel, relatives get nervous, and some people have that shaky a grasp on geography. Yesterday night when we saw events unfold on the news both DH and I immediately texted parents, as we knew they'd wake up, hear about it and worry. Why not put people's minds at ease? And so what if it's overused?

Otoh, if it was a weekday I'd hope my BIL used it as London Bridge is the stop for his commute.

To sum up. People can be a bit silly about it, but generally it's a good idea. Apart from that people now have a new thing to worry about, if they haven't heard from someone.

Has anyone actually clicked on it to see the messages in the "marked safe", there are loads offering "help"'or asking for "help". There is a right load of glory hounding shit on there.

Lots offering "blood if needed" how does that work, a passing ambulance goes "oooh billy from Tottenham is willing to give blood let's pop over"

And some women desperately needing fuel money to get home. She's in Sweden...

My cousin lives in Essex and has marked himself as safe. Yes, he could've been visiting but I'm 99.9% sure that he wouldn't have been .

I also had a friend caught up (asnin was in the area and had to run and hide) in the Paris attacks. The relief when I hear she was safe - well it's worth a few people pissing others off tbh.

Ok, I guess I underestimated how much people worry. When only a very small number of people die it's extremely unlikely it's someone you know.
For some of us that work in London dealing with chaos every day, its just another one of those things to deal with. A lot of people have very mundane jobs and its a bit of drama for them and they get all excited and have to get a bit emotional.

YABVU.

It's Saturday night and the attack happened in a part of London lots of people might be passing through for bars, meals, nights out etc. We were out there last week- it's not something we do frequently, but equally we don't keep our loved ones posted of our exact moves.

I know my family and DH's family and friends were concerned, despite us living in "leafy southwest London". They generally contact us on Facebook to check in when stuff like this happens, so it's convenient if we can mark ourselves as safe.

Yabu.

I have friends in London. I don't know their daily activity but the first thing we do with something like this is check in. These kind of apps help. For every person "misusing" it by clocking themselves safe when they live in a different city there's hundreds of people breathing a sigh of relief.

My friend doesn't live that way. Last night she was out and pretty much followed the incident inadvertently. She would have left behind friends who knew where she was heading.

Have you really got nothing else to worry about??

I assume everyone I know is safe until told otherwise. Also, if someone I know has been killed, then I will find it out eventually, when the family and close friends are ready to share the news. Death is eternal, I don´t need to be told as soon as someone has died in case I miss that news.

Only about 10 of my friends have checked themselves as safe but about 200+ of them live in London and it would be plausible for another 200+ to have happened to be there last night.
You've got over 400 friends on Facebook? Is that a stealth boast? Are they really friends?

YABU people are worried about those they care about. I marked myself as safe as I received a request from a friend to do so.

I don't think that there is anything wrong with this feature on Facebook as it's reassuring to know a loved one is fine. A lot of people I know who live further north than Sheffield seem to think I live in London for some reason even though I live in a town an hour outside of London. I always get a rush of messages from these people asking if I'm ok based on this lack of geographical knowledge. I don't put anything on Facebook about my safety status because it's not relevant to me if I'm not in the vicinity.

However, I know what you mean OP. Some people are so attention seeking when these horrible attacks happen and seem to relish in making it all about them. For instance, one woman I know who I am friends with on Facebook put a status on this morning basically saying that she felt sick to her stomach because she had walked down London Bridge in early June last year. Then there was a rush of people saying stuff along the lines of "OMG hun. That's so scary knowing it could have been you." She's very much an attention seeker though and is unable to hold down a relationship because she plays out every argument she ever has with her boyfriends on Facebook.

And it's not 'just seven people' there are 48 injured.

Facebook has prompted me to mark myself as safe even though I'm more than 10 miles away from London Bridge

(No I haven't done it!)

I'm sure everyone on that bridge didn't live on the bridge either,

I agree, I go through London Bridge 3x a week and I would mark myself safe if it would have happened during the week. Similar a friend who works in one of the west end theatres and one who is regularly around London at the weekend, they marked themselves to avoid constant checking up.

But, a friend who posted several times during the evening that she was at home watching BGT with her pre-teen daughter marked herself safe. That I can't understand, people who know her on FB must have seen the other posts so they know she is safe and sound at home.