Gone are the days where teenagers snuck out of their houses and lied to their parents about where they were going – Gen Z prefer their parents to track their every move.
Teenagers are happy for their parents to track their location at all times using a tracking app because it decreases their anxiety about abductions and terror attacks.
Some are turning to an app that allows friends and family members to track each other’s whereabouts through a location-sharing social network.
Life360 was founded in 2008 as a ‘family-oriented private social network’.
Since its beginnings – the app has expanded its purpose and developed features to allow parents to not only track their children’s location, but also monitor the speed that they’re driving at, detect if they’re in a car crash, receive SOS alerts and even see if their kids are using their phone while driving.
Emery Littig, 16, says her biggest fear is being abducted after seeing constant news coverage of the kidnapping and murder or a 10-year-old girl in Iowa. She started using Life360 even before the kidnapping because she was ‘a very anxious kid’
Life360 is an app that allows friends and family members to track each other’s whereabouts through a location-sharing social network. The San Francisco-based-company was founded in 2008 as a ‘family-oriented private social network’
Emery Littig, 16, says her biggest fear is being abducted after seeing constant news coverage of the kidnapping and murder or a 10-year-old girl in Iowa.
She told The Washington Post: ‘If something happened to me, I think it would be useful for my parents to know my last location’.
She started using Life360 even before the kidnapping because she was ‘a very anxious kid’.
A yearbook survey from Emery’s school found that half of the over 1,500 students at her school had Life360 and her entire friend group used it to share all of their locations with each other.
Emery was in a minor car accident two hours away from home when she was riding with her friends in Des Moines. Her friend’s sister rear-ended the car in front of them and Emery’s parents got a notification of Life360 that the car had come to an abrupt stop.
Emery also said that Life360 comes in handy at parties. When she was at a party with underage drinking during her freshman year a boy was hitting on her and the teen felt unsafe in the situation. Luckily she didn’t have to ask for the address of the party because her parents could find her location through Life360 and were able to pick her up in less than 20 minutes.
Young people nowadays are exposed to nonstop news of war, terrorism, pandemics, murders, kidnapping and more through social media – which provides graphic images and terrifying videos to illustrate those scary situations.
Because of the heightened sense of awareness about danger – youngsters feel safer knowing that their parents can see where they are at all times and come to the rescue if needs be.
A recent Life360 survey found that 94 per cent of Gen Z Americans say their life benefits from location sharing, 72 per cent of of Gen Z women believe their physical well-being benefits from location sharing.
The survey found that ‘safe’ is the number one term that came to mind for 66 per cent of Gen Z respondents when they thought about location sharing.
Downloads of Life360 doubled in the US since 2021 as a result of the pandemic, according to the company.
Teenagers are happy for their parents to track their location at all times using a tracking app because it decreases their anxiety about abductions and terror attacks
Because of the heightened sense of awareness about danger – youngsters feel safer knowing that their parents can see where they are at all times and come to the rescue if needs be
A recent Life360 survey found that 94 per cent of Gen Z Americans say their life benefits from location sharing, 72 per cent of of Gen Z women believe their physical well-being benefits from location sharing
Life360’s website said: ‘For a generation that also came of age during the #MeToo movement and school shootings and a global pandemic – all of which have brought physical safety and wellbeing to the forefront of social consciousness – it’s no wonder Gen Z is turning to location sharing as a critical tool for ensuring the safety of family and friends.’
Educational psychologist and author of Thrivers Dr. Michele Borba said: ‘The turbulence of Gen Z’s adolescence spawned a mental health crisis that was only amplified by the pandemic, social media, and the 24-hour news cycle,
‘During uncertain times, this generation has come to crave the added layer of security that location sharing provides.
As the activist generation, naturally they’re taking proactive approaches like location sharing to ensuring the wellbeing of their peers.’
Larken Hendricks, 17, first started using Life360 when she got her drivers license. The Charlottesville, Virginia, roads that she drives are winding and can be dangerous – so she feels safer knowing that her parents can find her quickly if she’s in a car accident.
Her younger siblings, 15 and 15, are on Life360 and her youngest brother, 9, will get added to the family’s network when he gets a phone.
She said the app isn’t necessary most of the time because she’s always told her mom where she is anyway.