The social etiquette of sharing location
It's Been a Minute
NPR
4.6 • 8.8K Ratings
🗓️ 3 December 2025
⏱️ 20 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Four in ten U.S. adults share their locations with at least one person. But while it’s convenient – is it a violation of privacy? And who really needs to know where you are? We're getting into how location sharing became a norm, the pros and cons, and how to turn it off without making things weird.
Brittany breaks it all down with Gina Cherelus, New York Times styles reporter and writer of their Third Wheel dating column, and Tatum Hunter, internet culture reporter at The Washington Post.
(0:00) Who shares their location and why?
(3:21) Sharing with your friends vs. your boyfriend
(5:27) How location sharing became a social norm
(9:30) What are the benefits of sharing your location?
(14:21) What do companies get from knowing your location?
(15:40) Why it can be damaging to share location with people
(17:20) The awkwardness of stopping sharing location
(19:29) How location sharing is redefining "privacy"
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Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Do you share your location? Do you do location sharing with anyone in your life or do you follow anyone's location in your life? |
| 0:08.7 | I share my location with my kids because they don't allow me to go anywhere else. |
| 0:14.6 | They're going to make sure you're saying they're grown. |
| 0:16.7 | I'm not like obsessed about that stuff, but my best friend is. |
| 0:20.1 | So she'll be like, oh, you're at Bryan Park Street at work, so I can't call you right now. |
| 0:23.5 | She checks to see when she can call me. I go everywhere, so I just let people know where I am. You don't care. You're like, whatever. Because I'm always on the move. Do the people in your life need to know where you are? From what I heard talking to people in Bryant Park in New York City, |
| 0:43.7 | I'd say location sharing is quickly becoming a new social norm. One survey from market research polling firm, Civic Science, found that 41% of Americans share their location with someone they know. |
| 0:50.8 | I often hear the joke about location sharing where people say, you know, it feels like |
| 0:54.8 | I'm checking in on my Sims every day. |
| 0:57.4 | But there's a bunch of new social rules, some tricky etiquette, and a whole trove of privacy |
| 1:03.0 | questions that come with this technology. |
| 1:05.6 | Are we just trading privacy for convenience? |
| 1:08.5 | And who really needs to know where you are? |
| 1:10.6 | That man does not need your location. |
| 1:12.4 | To break it all down, I'm here with Gina Sherrillis, New York Times-Styles reporter and writer |
| 1:17.2 | of their third-wheel dating column. |
| 1:18.9 | Thanks for having me. |
| 1:20.1 | And Tatum Hunter, Internet Culture Reporter at The Washington Post. |
| 1:24.1 | Yeah, same. |
| 1:27.7 | Hello, hello. |
| 1:29.2 | I'm Brittany Luce, and you're listening to It's Been a Minute from NPR, |
| 1:32.8 | a show about what's going on in culture and why it doesn't happen by accident. |
... |
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