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.

I'm always torn about this feature. I used it in the London Bridge attacks because I spend a lot of time in London Bridge, had been in Borough Market a couple of hours earlier, and was still in the area at the time of the incident.

I didn't use it in the Westminster attack because although I use Westminster Bridge several times a week, I was on holiday when the attack happened. Although most people wouldn't have known that, as I don't really post anything to Facebook these days, I doubt anyone else would have been especially worried.

I seem to have a slightly unnerving ability to be in close proximity to these things when they happen though, even if I'm usually nowhere near, and have got used to texting family as soon as I've seen the news so they know I'm OK!

Not RTFT so not sure if people have mentioned this, but FB actually invites you to use it? I wonder if some people click on it unthinkingly because it's offered to them, rather than going to seek it out?