In today’s world, it’s not uncommon to share your location with others, whether it be parents, friends, or a significant other. As a result, more apps are introducing a feature that allows users to share their location.  

Last month, Instagram introduced location sharing as its newest feature, allowing locations to be shared with friends and followers. 

“I think it’s weird, if you have your location on it for friends or for everyone, which is weirder,” sophomore Ceci Elgert said. 

Publicly, social media apps are getting a lot of backlash for their new feature, as they store your location even when you have the feature turned off. 

“I don’t like it when social media apps have my location because I feel like they’re more prone to not following regulations,” freshman Atlis Botkin said. 

On the other hand, some students think it could be beneficial for social media to have locations. 

“I think that if people use it the right way and share it with close people and not random strangers, it could be used for good,” junior Cheyenne Lickly said. 

 It’s not just social media that stores location; apps like Life 360 have also faced legal trouble concerning privacy and selling users’ data to third parties. 

This is concerning people, as a lot of students share their location for an added safety effect.

 “I feel safer with my friends because you never know what will happen,” Lickly said. 

 However, with locations being stored, this safety effect can be taken away in some people’s eyes.

“I think it could be possible that my privacy is being invaded, at least a little bit,” freshman Isabella Niehaus said. 

Overall, it’s important to read the terms and conditions before sharing your location, and do what you feel is safest and best for you.