Member-only story
What Are the Ethics of Find My Friends and Tracking Your Loved Ones?
And why I don’t recommend it
In the old days, tracking someone would involve spy equipment, perhaps tucked into a teddy bear or stuck on the bottom of the car. It was also, obviously, heavily frowned upon. Nowadays, it’s not only normalised, but often joked about.
On TikTok and X, people will refer to tracking their friends as their “personal Sims,” referring to the game where you had full control over humanoid characters. They’ll mention catching their bestie at their ex-boyfriend’s house or seeing where they travel on a night out. The difference is not only how easy it is to track someone, through apps like Find My Friends, but also the consent of the matter. Someone has shared their location, so it’s okay. It’s okay to check in whenever you like or try to catch them out in a lie… right? Right?
I’m not so sure, and so I want to discuss the ethics of Find My Friends and tracking your loved ones. Are we keeping each other safe or crossing one of the many invisible boundaries of the digital age?
