Life360: Is it bad or worth it?

Life360 is one of the most popular location services of all time and many famous brands integrate it into their GPS tracking systems. However, the global integration of this application does not mean that it is free of bugs.

Questions recently began to arise about whether this application brings more harm than good to those being monitored. Most teens and children claim that Life360 ruined their social life and invaded their privacy.

In this article we will explain the dark side of this application.

Is Life360 an invasion of privacy?

To some extent, yes. This app has gone too far.

Parents began to rely too much on some of Life360’s features, such as driving habits and personalized places.

This feeling of constant “supervision” creates aversion in children who believe they are being monitored and contributes to certain psychological problems.

Key Features of Life 360

To better understand the problems caused by Life360 and its biggest disadvantages, we must first understand the concept and key features of this application.

Driving habits

This feature provides parents with comprehensive information about their family members’ driving habits. They can check your speed and phone usage while you are in the car.

They also have a complete weekly view of their driving behavior at the end of the week.

Custom places

Parents can mark certain locations (home, office, school, gym) and receive a notification as soon as their family member enters or leaves the building.

This function is the most popular to check if children arrive safely at school.

private circle

This feature allows users to create circles of family members and track their location in real time. It’s useful when you’re planning a meeting and want to see where everyone is.

Route history

This feature allows the user to check someone’s previous trips and get information about route map details.

Instant access

These are one-touch options to ask for help and navigate with your family member.

Battery monitoring

The last feature is to check your family member’s battery life. This way, you can alert them to charge their phones and that it is impossible to contact them because their battery is low.

Is Life360 suffocating for children?

In short, yes.

Although the main intention of tracking apps is security, this is slowly becoming an invasion of your privacy.

Instead of feeling cared for, children may believe that their parents don’t trust them. This turns into repulsion in children. Location tracking can significantly damage this parent-child connection, especially in hormone-driven adolescence.

Research has shown that tracking the location of adolescents increases the likelihood of having higher levels of conflict at home. They feel suffocated by their parents, creating an unhealthy distance.

Can Life360 contribute to the development of anxiety in adolescents?

Absolutely.

The reality of technology is not as fabulous as it seems.

Adolescents are extremely sensitive to changes or situations that they consider restrictive or contrary to their view of the world. The feeling of being watched or monitored can cause anxiety in anyone, especially people who are already experiencing significant biological and lifestyle changes.

Teenage anxiety manifests itself in different ways. This can affect your child’s daily behavior, concentration, irritability, conflicts, and many more.

The adverse effects of life360

Although technology has shaped our lives, at times it can be suffocating.

For example, parents who use Life360 to monitor their college kids’ lives take it too seriously. They become more controlling, which is turning into emotional abuse.

The children are also not happy and look for ways to deceive their parents. They are learning how to freeze their location on this app so that their parents won’t bother them anymore.

If you are trying to control where your children go and what they do with their time, you may be disappointed or get the opposite effect.

When should I use Life360?

So far we have had the opportunity to review the negative aspects of Life360 and the consequences it can have for children who are being “watched”.

When is it acceptable to use this application?

According to parents’ statements, there is an “acceptable” time when you should use this app and not receive any negative reaction for it. The appropriate time period to use Life360 is when you have young children.

Many parents have praised this app for helping them monitor their children’s playtime, school arrival, and more. When they are still young, they are not opposed to it as it is what they are already used to and probably won’t mind.

Their main goal is to do whatever they are doing right now. This gives parents a certain amount of “relief” in that they will not come home with an attitude of being “watched.”

Is Life360 legit?

Yes. Life360 is a legitimate service. It’s also free if you don’t need access to premium services. It is available on Windows, Mac, iOS and Android devices.

Frequent questions

Does Life360 notify you when someone checks your location?

No. Life360 will not notify you when someone checks your location.

How does Life360 know when you stop driving?

Within the app, there is a driving detection feature that alerts the user when someone stops driving. Analyzes the activity and speed of the driver’s phone.

Is Life360 always accurate?

Despite being considered a technological advance, Life360 is not 100% accurate. For example, the location of some members of your “circle” may not update when you open the app.

Does Life360 use a lot of data?

It depends on how much time you spend on the app. On average, Life360 can use between 8 and 60 MB per month. Your mobile data load can be reduced if you connect to your Wi-Fi.

Can someone pause their location in Life360?

If you can. Users will receive a “Location/GPS disabled” or “No network” alert on their phones. To see their location again, they must activate their app and turn on location.

Add

So far, you’ve had the opportunity to learn more about how tracking apps like Life360 influence the lives of children and their parents. Overly controlling parents who spend 24/7 on this app monitoring their children cause more harm than good. Children and young adults may look for ways to freeze their location and avoid being “emotionally abused,” which strains their relationships with their parents and can create extreme revulsion.

Parents should learn to trust their children and take these apps as they are: online tools only.

Have you ever used Life360? What is your experience with this application? Be sure to let us know in the comments below.