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?

We use life 360 on android and Apple. The free version.

I think people are becoming overly dependent on technology so this is just another example, not to mention tacking your every movement. It's all about the data. MN is equally dubious for those reasons.

Don’t have it, would hate it, none of the family have it

Hell no. I’m never sharing my location with anyone. And I don’t expect any of my family or friends to do this either.

This. Do it, don't do it but don't judge others.

We all use it and have found lost phones with it on three occasions.

Our son did his first DofE hike recently and it was fun watching his route, even though his phone was in a sealed bag so he couldn’t contact us.

I don’t understand what’s intrusive about it really, yes my family can see where I am but if they called me I would obviously just tell them anyway, I don’t see any difference 🤷‍♀️

On these threads, the theme of ‘knowing when to put the dinner/kettle on’ is always cited. Quite aside from most adults being perfectly able to wait a while when they arrive home, and not actually needing tea or dinner served up immediately, I have to say that if there was someone at home who was going to cook my dinner for me, I wouldn’t consider it particularly onerous to text/phone them to let them know an approximate ETA. It’s basic courtesy to do so.

Also, it’s funny how so many people say they have it but almost never check it, yet there are always lots of posts about ‘oh I unexpectedly stopped at Tesco on my way home and dh messaged me telling me to get bread’ etc. For people who apparently almost never check it, it’s amazing how often, just by sheer and utter coincidence, someone checks it at the exact time they happen to be in a shop. Such a coincidence that they decided to check then, considering they seemingly almost never do so.

On a previous similar thread, someone posted a story of how she had bumped into a friend on her way home and gone for coffee. Her teenage daughter rang her demanding to know why she had stopped at a cafe and telling her to get home, and the poster thought this was hilarious, and no, there was no mention of SEN on the part of the daughter.

Edited for typo.

I did that the other day when my husband was in Aldi!

You’ll recall that in those days there were public phone boxes everywhere, so yes, there was a way to contact someone. Nowadays there are hardly any.

I've never shared my location and never felt the need to. No idea what's the norm though as it's never come up with family members. It's never come up as a suggestion between me and DH. He is pretty dependable (comes home from work at the same time, texts if there is a meeting which makes him later) and we spend all our time together at weekends with the dcs so no need then. My eldest is the only one old enough to have a phone and he's autistic with no social life and at home almost all the time.

My DH and I have used it since the start of our relationship. But we are runners, and it is an easy way for us to meet up mid run if I don’t want to run as far as him,

I also use it to run him a bath when he has been out for a very long run, and when we lived at the top of a hill, I often used to pop down to the bottom and pick him up and safe him 400 metres of climb.

my running pals and I use it for the same thing.

my dh now has young onset Alz
and so it’s a godsend, giving him independence but as safely as we can, although the only time he has gone missing, I was so flipping panicked, I forgot to take my phone out whilst looking for him!!!

Modern iPhones can also act as satellite phones in an emergency, anywhere on the planet.

Its ever so handy when teens drop their phones and you can go straight to where it is, not have to carefully retrace every step.

handy when someone’s driving so you can’t ask them where they are/how far away they are and can just look.

but only share with the people who live in the house.

One of my DDs (early 20s) has recently dumped the 4th boyfriend that got narky because she doesn't share location constantly. It's so normalised in their age group that it's becoming something that people expect.

It's a useful tool - my other DD with narcolepsy has used it when she's travelling anywhere alone and will share with one other person for safety.

In some cases though it's used in a way that just leads to bad manners. A friend of mine checks her husband's so she knows when to have dinner ready. Which means he now doesn't bother with the basic manners or dropping a message to say he's running late.

The one thing that bothers me is that so many people refuse to see that the total normalisation of it is an issue when we live in a world where VAWG is a major problem. This is a controlling and abusive man's dream and it must not be normalised that anyone else can, or should, demand that an adult allows tracking.

We must teach our young adults that they absolutely do not have to allow being tracked. If they, and only they, wish to do so for safety, or convenience, or on occasion that's absolutely fine. But being tracked should absolutely not be the norm.

This sounds like the beginning of every true crime podcast and real murder show on‘ It was only a 15 minute walk, but no one saw what happened to…’
I don’t care what other people do with their location and think it’s ridiculous that other people have such strong opinions. We use it in our house occasionally, like my husband turns it on when he needs picking up from the train station so I can see where he is en route. And my daughter has it on so I don’t have to text her where are you every day.

Also, it’s funny how so many people say they have it but almost never check it, yet there are always lots of posts about ‘oh I unexpectedly stopped at Tesco on my way home and dh messaged me telling me to get bread’ etc.

Quite easy to explain. Realise you need bread. Know that OH is going to be passing Tesco at some point. Check to see if they have. If they haven’t, ask them to pop in and get some bread.

I have my parents location sharing set up, they are elderly. I have my DS's set up, 26, 20, 15.

I don't check it unless i can't get hold of them.

I only share my location with DS 15 just in case he needs me. Which is all well and good until I go for a sneaky McDs on a Sunday and he tells DH 😂

You aren't the only one OP. I don't understand either.

I don't have location services set on any of my devices and I won't. I'm an adult and I'm perfectly capable of getting around without being watched.

My ds is 17 next week. I don't expect him to share his location either. He's entitled to some privacy, he's sensible, doesn't get himself into daft situations and can always ring me if he wants to tell me something, but that will be his choice.

I have ten people on mine! I don’t sit here watching everyone as they move around. I just look at it if I need to know where someone is for some specific reason.

My point was that the person checking seems to do so at the exact time the person is in Tesco, not before they got there, at least of these posts are to be believed- there have been some on this thread already. That’s some coincidence, if they ‘almost never’ check it usually.

I must admit none of us use it. I have no idea if my kids have anything to hide but since they’re adults it’s none of my business.

I have nothing to hide but my privacy lol. I prefer not to share everything.

However, I have just discussed my DH turning it on. He asked about how it works as he’s very weak from his cancer and has started going fishing again. He worries if he falls no one would ever find him. I’ve put ‘what 3 words’ on his phone but he’s such a technophobe he won’t figure it out. I have a sneaky feeling he may be showing early signs of dementia. Location sharing might be an option next.

You think someone who is capable of killing a child wouldn’t throw their phone away at the earliest opportunity?

I only share my location with DS 15 just in case he needs me. Which is all well and good until I go for a sneaky McDs on a Sunday and he tells DH 😂

Jesus Christ.
Why does your McDs have to be ‘sneaky’?
And why is your DS reporting to your DH on your whereabouts?
And why do you seem to find this funny?

one of the aspects I can’t understand is the ‘ checking to see where they are en route if I’m picking them up’
If it’s a train/bus - There’s a timetable and if it’s delayed they can message you.
If they’re late anytime - they can message you.

We’ve got “find my phone” and it’s mainly used to find mislaid or left phones not people. When DH left his in a taxi it was pretty simple to track the cab down, if mine or my bag with it in is stolen I like knowing DH could track it. It’s not 100% reliable so I don’t think of it as tracking DH or ds particularly it’s more a security feature of the phone. I’m considering tagging my bike too.