Permanently localized and controlled, new trend among young people

Madrid.– Technology allows you to know where you are, but now it has taken on a completely new dimension with more and more groups of young people who choose to permanently share their location and movements in real time with their friends or partners thanks to social networks like Instagram or applications like “find” on Iphone or Google Maps. “Knowing at all times where my friends are reduces uncertainty and provides peace of mind. That fear of being left out influences. Not sharing could be interpreted as not being part of the group, having more distrust or even having something to hide,” highlights psychologist Silvia Álava in an interview with EFE. How does it work? The applications make it very easy, as it is enough to enable this function in Instagram, in Google Maps or configure the “search” section that iPhones have with a selected group of friends.

Instagram allows, in addition to tagging the location of posts, to share your last location in a new bubble called ‘maps’, either with all followers or only with the ‘close friends’ group. The app warns with a message that ‘your exact location is shared and will be updated every time you open Instagram, but it will disappear if you don’t open the application for 24 hours’. “It can have a benefit, because it facilitates organization or security with friends who know where I am going and that if something happens to me they will be able to help me. We feel more cared for and supported. But it has its risks if we do it as something imposed, and generate emotional dependence, confusing trust with surveillance,” points out Álava.

Geolocated: Security and Belonging

This is a technological model that allows a whole group of people to know at all times what the rest are doing, where they are, and where they are going. Sandra Lázaro, 29 years old, is one of those people who has her best friends in a geolocated group. She doesn’t feel watched because she does it with people she completely trusts: “It’s a way to feel safe. I live alone and when I go home they already know where each one is going.” In addition, in your case, it helps you know where your cell phone is when you can’t find it or if it’s stolen, although it points out that sometimes it also serves to catch you in a denial: “I’m always late and many times I tell them ‘I’m on my way’ and I’m still getting out of the shower,” he jokes. Paula Santiago, 30 years old, shares her permanent location not only with her friends but also with her boyfriend: “My partner doesn’t want to share their location with me, but as a woman, I feel safer. It’s good that people close to me know my location and if anything happens, they know where I am. I don’t feel watched. I have nothing to hide.” Psychologist Silvia Álava insists that “we are disseminating very intimate data, which makes us more vulnerable to other problems generated by networks”, points out that it can bring benefits if it is with close people and always “being aware that it is used from knowledge, with a clear utility and never to feel outside a group”.

Fear of aggression and belonging to a group are two of the main reasons why it is carried out, according to experts, and it is a practice that generally excludes parents. “There are many parents who want to have their children geolocated. Most of it is usually more to calm that anxiety of not knowing where their children are,” highlights the psychologist. In this sense, before activating this tool, it recommends parents to work on trust and respect “so that they can tell what they are doing and know that if there has been a problem, they understand that the first person they can tell is them.”