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Comment by renewiltord | Hacker News Reader

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I typically find the people who do track their family constantly the more neurotic. I get people explaining to me at length why they track when I never asked. I was more than once accused of being a "distant parent" when people found out I didn't track my teenager. I get exasperated looks when I say I have no idea where my wife is currently. I don't feel the need to track my family, and I really don't care at all if other people do or don't. But the 'pro-tracking' people are always trying to convince me I'm somehow in the wrong. I find that bizarre.

I think they are “convincing you” because you are on the opposite side of an opinion.

You’ll notice in this thread, many anti-tracking people are trying to convince pro tracking people, and vise versa. This is common when there are two opposing sides of an argument.

None of the people in the article, nor the author, mention abuse. Are you responding to the article or what you imagine the discussion to be? It barely talks about safety, it’s merely one example, and is focused on the social effects.

It even makes the point that location sharing can lead to less social interaction, contrary to your own experience.

Neuroticism is a property of an exchange, not an isolated phenomenon. If you're honest with yourself, you might start to see that we're all partners in a great dance.

Feel free to move to China or the UK if you prefer to be constantly watched over. I prefer freedom, thanks.

For all the problems that existed in the pre-mobile era, widespread loneliness wasn’t one of them. You don’t need 24/7 connectivity to everyone to have real relationships. You’re in here accusing people of having a mental illness because they want some privacy, yet you’re the one who seemingly needs a digital leash tying you to all your friends and family. What kind of insecurity and/or codependence is that?

Do you have a cellphone? If yes, you're being tracked. Do you have a smartphone? Well then you're being tracked by likely dozens of entities you don't even know about.

I leave my dumbphone at home most of the time. Why would I need it? You should try living in the moment more often instead of staring at a screen, it’s good for you.

You don't know me at all, but you're acting like you do.

What? Doesn't freedom precisely mean that you can share your location if you want to?

If you want to, sure. It also means the rest of us can mock you for it unless you have a really good reason, like a serious medical condition or something. Don’t worry, nobody’s trying to take away your right to voluntarily give away your personal data.

Give away my personal data to my friends and family?

I'm a very private person. I avoided social media for years, and I'm very aware of what info about my real life is shared on the internet. However, these comments made me aware of the feature on Google Maps and convinced me to try sharing with loved ones. I tried coming up with a strong reason for not doing that, but I couldn't find one. I'm aware that it's different for each person, but let's see how it works.

Thanks, friend. Your experience has helped me see the error of my ways. I thought that it was good to be private, but now I see that I was only misguided. I too was convinced to try the Google Maps location sharing feature, and it was super easy to share my location with everyone. My boss thought it was a great idea! Google really is a fantastic company, huh?

Maybe I'm lucky, but my boss is not one of my loved ones. To each their own, though.

What? The author isn't claiming they were abused or a victim of abuse. Abuse is only mentioned through one specific story, which was from a friend:

> In one case, GPS was used to first construct an inaccurate and accusatory narrative about a partner’s behavior that nitpicked the details [...] and then to show up unannounced to physically confront them.

I mean, this very much does sound like abuse. What are you going on about and what is your issue with the post?

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