Life 360; The Platform That Makes or Breaks Trust?

Have you ever tried to convince someone that you were telling the truth? Well the app and social media platform ‘Life 360’ allows your actions and trust to be put to the test.

The app was created in 2008 by American entrepreneur Chris Hulls and is a family platform that shares your location with members you have on the app. There are pros and cons just like how there are for everything in life, but some say that this app may take things a bit too far. But in my opinion, it is the parents, guardians, and users that abuse the app privileges. 

This app allows you to add family members and friends to a ‘circle’ which is essentially a group of people where you can access each other’s locations. You can set place names for certain locations so that when the members arrive or leave home for example, you will get a notification.

Coming from a young adult who has experience with the app but at the same time is a member of Gen Z and witnesses other kids experiences with the app, I am able to view both sides of the argument.

Considering parents and guardians, I am able to see their perspective regarding making sure their kids are safe. Whether that be making sure their child gets to their friends house or work safely, or even checking on them while driving home during a snowstorm, the parental figures in your life can check your location to ensure your well being.

Another positive of this controversial app relates to people having access to your exact location in case of an accident or if any incident happened. This way, the people on the app with you are able to provide help with your precise location so assistance could come as quickly and efficiently as possible. The app also provides detailed information that could help solve a case or an accident regarding the speed someone was going or the last time someone was on their phone or the app. 

However, parents are taking advantage of this app and breaking the trust with their child. There is a fine line between caring for your child and stalking them. Some kids are forced to get the app when they already don’t want to, but then from there, their guardians make it very clear that they don’t trust their child by stalking their location every few moments. Not even just that, but the parents text them or scold them about where they were and interrogate them about their whereabouts.

The app itself is not a bad idea because it was designed for the safety of the users and drivers. The people using the platform are ruining the reputation of the app by turning it into something much worse than it truly is. The stalkerish and psychotic approach to track your kids was not the original goal.

All of the users need to take a step back and realize that an app should not be breaking the trust between them and their loved ones when the point of it was not designed to do that, but instead just quite the opposite. 

Life 360 Features:

• Location sharing.

• Roadside assistance.

• Crash detection.

• Directions to circle members.
• Detect potentially unsafe driving behaviors and distracted driving reports.

The app’s motto states, “Live free, together”. You can’t fulfill that motto of being free if you don’t trust others but most importantly if you can’t trust yourself or your actions. So just remember, make the right choice because that choice is only yours to act on. 

Drive safe!