Location sharing- I think I’m worryingly in the minority

[PomPomHead]

I am seriously worried that I’m in the minority here and the world’s gone mad. Why would you share your location All The Time with every member of your family ( even, as in the case of my friends, with your
married 30 year old daughter!)? Why does nobody feel able to be independent and unwatched ? It baffles me and nobody has been able to persuade me of the so-called safety benefits?
Is checking your location now the new showing me you love me?

You can do what you like of course. But it's obviously not the "main reason" given you forgot about it in your first two posts. I suspect your mums anxiety and the bit about your how your DH doesn't have time to cheat because you know where he is are the real main reasons....

I have it for DC for safety reasons as they’re still young at 8 (gps kids smart watch) and 11 (phone) and like to go out on their bikes because we’re surrounded by woods, fields and parks. It’s been useful before when they got a bit lost and I could direct them!
For DH I have it as he travels for work and it’s handy knowing how far he is away / how long it’ll be before he’s back and can take over parenting (refereeing) duties while I make the dinner in peace! DH doesn’t have it for me as I don’t go very far, work, home, school, shops and horse riding are my usual only locations.

I’ve actually said I think YABU. We don’t use it ourselves but I do understand why others might and think it’s a very personal decision.

@Digdongdoo you are strangely invested and confrontational about the reasons other people do totally trivial things. You can suspect whatever you like about me and my family, if that makes you happy. I mentioned about the affair thing because this thread is full of people talking about trust, so I thought that was relevant. I don’t think my mother is overly anxious, but I really don’t mind if you disagree. It doesn’t impact me in any way. I also said absolutely nothing about my DH “not having time to cheat because I know where he is”, I think you may have misread my post.

@cadburyegg yes, I suppose! What I meant though, is that if we’re heading out for the day and I’ve just spent all morning hearding my children around trying to get them ready, I very often find myself at the door about to leave thinking “I have no idea where my phone is”. Then my husband opens find my friends, gets it to make the noise, and then I can quickly find it - almost always somewhere stupid like under the sofa, in a cupboard - I even once accidentally put it in the fridge!!

I'm not doing it at the moment, but I wouldn't mind my family knowing my location, and if I went out more often, I'd probably suggest DH and I do this. To be fair, anyone seeing my location data would find it infinitely boring as I wfh and have very home-based hobbies, so it's rare that I go far.

How do they do this? Is it an app?

It's useful for kids for obvious reasons. DH and I share our locations, it's not like we are sat there tracking each others every move, but it has come in handy on more than one occasion.

I felt a bit faint whilst driving last year and had to pull into a lay by. I called DH and he was able to locate me and pick me up.

My SS has just toured Germany with his band, DH could see when he was getting close to home so he could be there ready to pick him up.

My nephew lost his phone when we were on a weekend away and we found it at the arcades.

As an adult, I’m entitled to privacy. No one has the right to know where I am 24/7. It isn’t about having anything to hide at all.

'Find My' App. You can choose who you want to share your location with and turn it off at anytime.

Because he can't because he is being stalked by his mum!

SS could have called.

You could have called and shared your location at that moment

Three people with no privacy, one phone saved.

SS could have called. But he was on a noisy coach with a bunch of friends. He can turn this feature off any time he likes being nearly 18. I'm sure he will when he's off to uni.

And what if I had fainted? I just about managed to ring him on the handsfree, I wasn't about to start fiddling around sharing locations. I also have no problem sharing my location, I find it reassuring actually.

You can turn sharing off at any time you like. We choose to share. That isn't a lack of privacy it's a choice. None of us are going anywhere that we would require privacy anyhow....

Yes one phone saved that wouldn't have been otherwise.

You're absolutely entitled to feel differently about it than I do. Location sharing isn't for everyone.

And you're right in your other post that we are statistically most likely to be hurt by someone we know. But unfortunately with the level of violence against women and girls, and when you have experienced that violence or sexual assault personally or within your family and friend group, I'm personally more inclined to embrace any measures I can take to try and ease that worry (and I accept, paranoia).

Dear God how ridiculous do you sound..i hope no one belonging to you ever goes missing or needs to be found and this would have been handy..my 4 girls have it as they all have iphones..I'm on android so don't but I'm usually with one of them if I'm out..you really need to get over yourself

I don't think OP is being unreasonable to think it strange and the angry comments from those who think the opposite are not warranted. For my part I had no idea that this was a thing until I read this thread. I can understand it for children and young teenagers, but I wouldn't want it between me and my husband and certainly not my parents and adult siblings.

Next will be live video footage of where people are. Black mirror anyone? Poor kids

Do you not remember sneaking around and having adventures? Going to gigs or clubbing and saying you were at someone’s house? One night stands? These poor kids have no chance to grow and learn and experiment anymore. No wonder they are anxious

I have it on purely to track my dh on his way home from work to see when to put the kettle on. It’s not that deep and it shouldn’t affect you one bit if other people choose to use it

You are right to be worried OP

That must of been a worrying time for you and your family. You've showed how it can really be useful and in your case save a life

We use it - my husband bikes to work and I worry, and he never always remembers to message me so if he's at work I know he's ok!

I've nothing to hide so I share mine with my kids and they do with me. I don't think any of us particularly check it but it's there just in case

We have it as a family so we can see where our son is. I also find it super useful to see where DH is and what time he'll be home for tea. We used it once years ago when he didn't have a car with sat nav. It was snowing and he was lost. I looked to see where he was and talked him through the route to get him back home!

Me and hubby do, he works away in a different city and i pick him up from the train station so i look to see how far away he is before i set off kind of thing. Also sometimes he will pop out before i wake up and so if i see him somewhere near to somewhere that i want him to get me something ill message him. Also i walk home alone in the dark some evenings after work (9pm) and go out at night without him so its easier when i need a lift back or whatever or if something were to happen to me. It was me who wanted to have it, for safety reasons and when our kids are old enough to have their own phones they will be joining us, cant use it with tablets unfortunately, only phones otherwise i would.

Lots of them still do that. They leave the phone where they are expected to be and then head out without it.