For many high schoolers, the topic of sharing locations with friends and family is something nearly everyone has in common. Whether for safety reasons within the family or other reasons for friends, students are able to know where people are at all times.
Many high school students share their location with their families. Life 360 is one of the most popular apps for the family, with basic iPhone location sharing being a major resource as well. Senior Mallory Held shares her location with her family and disapproves of its use in her life. Many times, parents might force their kids to share their location, but they never look at it to find out where they are, which can be frustrating for some. “[My parents] have my location, but then they’ll still text me and be like, ‘Where are you?’ Just look at my location,” Held said.
One of the more interesting aspects of sharing locations is choosing who to share them with. Snapmap is a very popular way of letting closest friends, or even strangers, know where someone is. Snapmap is a map feature on Snapchat that allows people to see when their friends were last active and where they are. Students find it can be nice to have an idea of where their friends are, so they know how to plan out their time. “I can see where they are and when they’re coming to pick me up…[I] use it when people are coming to my house, so I know where they are and when they’re gonna be there,” Held said.
On the other hand, there might not be much reason behind why students push the button to share their location. It could be simply because their friends do it, so they want to as well. This could be peer pressure or just the norms of high school life, but there is something to be said about following the same trends as friends. Sophomore Grace Zhao shares her location with friends and family over a few different apps, and doesn’t have a specific reason. “I don’t know. I guess [because my friends] share their location with me,” Zhao said.
Many benefits come with location sharing, though. Apps such as Life 360 have safety features such as crash detection, phone usage, and car speed, making it more popular for families. There is an aspect of safety that comes with knowing where the loved ones are. Especially as students become more independent, safety is a priority. “[The useful benefits are] definitely the crash detection and…[if] I get kidnapped or something,” Zhao said.