There's a New Kind of Social Media App People Are Obsessed With. You've Probably Used It Already.

"My friend recently told me a story over drinks that I haven't been able to get out of my head. Her two friends, let's call them Alice and Bob, were something of a lynchpin couple in her friend group. They'd been dating for a few years and moved in together almost immediately. Everyone knew them as an item that did pretty much everything together. Alice and Bob were more like AliceandBob, really."

"My friend had both Alice and Bob's locations on Apple's Find My app-one of the "Utilities" applications that comes pre-installed on Apple devices and lets a user see locations that have been shared with them. She'd watch them go about their days as blue dots that drove to work, picked up groceries, and came back home. Ah, cozy domestic bliss."

Apple's Find My app enables users to view locations shared with them, turning people into moving blue-dot representations of daily routines. Location sharing can reinforce social knowledge of couples who appear inseparable and can reveal abrupt relationship changes when locations are turned off simultaneously. Shared location data can influence behavior, such as avoiding in-person encounters or facilitating remote introductions via screenshots. Individuals use location sharing both to maintain contact across long distances and to monitor movements during travel. Location visibility raises privacy and relational concerns, affecting how friends and partners handle breakups, breaks, and the timing of public announcements.

Read at Slate Magazine