Can We Live With Life 360?

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Mary Reagan Barnett, Travel Editor

Tracking someone’s exact location, car speed, phone percentage, browser history, and even text messages is apparently the new trend. This is also known as Life360, which has recently gained popularity among parents seeking a more “active” involvement in their children’s lives, such as St. Andrew’s parent Marcy Croft. 

     “For me, Life360 is a safety tool. I don’t use it to monitor where you guys are or when you got there,” Croft said. “I use it to monitor driving habits (speeding, talking on the phone while driving, etc) and as an emergency locator if curfew has passed or something like that.”

     Although the app can be very useful, many teenagers view it as an invasion of their privacy.  

Junior Walter Johnson can see how the app is helpful but doesn’t like all of the features on the app. 

     “Although parents have a certain right to know what their children are doing, it can sometimes be an invasion of privacy,” Johnson said. “I think it can be an invasion of privacy when parents start checking how fast you are driving, how long you were driving, and every single location you go to.”

     Teenagers have taken their views to Tik Tok, where Life360 has become a meme. Teens express their views and even give tips about how to work your way around the app. Ideas range from leaving your phone in a mailbox to turning off your location without your parents knowing. This leads to the idea that overparenting produces sneaky kids. Junior Lizzy Springer believes that Life360 makes teenagers sneakier because they feel the need to go behind their parents’ backs. She also believes it hurts the relationship between parents and their kids because Life360 suggests trust issues. 

      “Kids don’t feel comfortable to be honest with their parents because Life360 shows that parents have obvious trust issues for controlling their kids,” Springer said. “It causes trust issues and kids feel the need to go behind their parents back.” 

     Junior Rashad Bolden agrees with Springer; however, he also thinks it affects the way teenagers develop as they get older.  

     “When some parents take it too far and don’t give their children any trust, this could lead to a kid being sneakier,” Bolden said. “It leads to this because the kids feel that they aren’t being treated like they are getting older; instead, they are being treated as if they are still toddlers.”

       Therefore, would it be better for parents not to have Life360? Would it build better relationships? Without Life360, teenagers are given the freedom and reasonability that they deserve; such as learning how to handle things without their parents, in preparation for adulthood.