Life 360 is a new app which allows people to track each other’s locations. Now as this may not sound like a bad idea, this app has many hidden features which makes it seem very obsessive. While not only being able to track locations, this app can also track statistics of your driving such as your top speed, amount of times breaking hard, and the amount of times you have used your phone while driving.

   Now as this may seem good to help parents look out for their kids no one wants to be monitored this closely and this new app could be the beginning of something much worse. 

   Life 360 was created in 2008 and seemed to blow up locally around 2016. It seems to me that many parents made their kids download this app using the line “I won’t track you all the time it’s just for emergencies.” Now we all know this is completely false and parents consistently check this app along with driving stats to basically create a mental file on their children. While it may not seem bad, after a while this becomes very repetitive and almost obsessive. 

   Many times my mom has texted me and asked where I am even though she forced me to download an app that tracks my location 24/7. Another downside to this app besides parents not being tech-savvy is the fact that when your location gets turned off your parents can get notified.

   This app works through small groups called “circles” and everyone in the circle can see all of the mentioned information on each other. This app can also show when someone leaves a designated area such as their home, how long they were gone for, and how far they went. 

   It is understandable that this app is meant to create a feeling of safety between parents and their kids but we can all agree it seems fairly odd that there are many of these other random statistics that might be out of your control sometimes.

   Sophomore Bella Rogers* had this to say: “Life 360 is a good idea executed in the wrong way” and that that Life 360 is a “burden on their social life.” Life 360 is disliked by many if not all teenagers because of its heavy restriction and an overwhelming amount of information and should not be used to constantly track kids. There are other apps with better functionality that are not packed with random information that are clearly better options to use instead of Life 360!

*Name has been changed