Wife wonders if it's normal that she doesn't track her spouse's location on her phone
Has tracking spouses become a modern day convenience? Or glaring lack of trust?

The modern age has given us many innovative ways for staying connected, including the plethora of tracking apps that allow you to see a partner, friend, or family member’s location at virtually any given moment. But just how many folks are using this modern day convenience? Does age play a factor in whether or not it's a must-have relationship? These were the questions posed by a woman named Shannon (aka @simplyshannon70 on TikTok) recently.
“Do you and your spouse track each other on, like, Find My Friends or Life360? I was just watching someone else's video who said that she and her husband do track each other. Me and my husband do not, like it's never come up to share our location,” she began in her video. She went on to say that she might turn the app on during a long distance trip, like when she goes to visit family, but as far as day-to-day life, she and her husband have no idea of each other’s whereabouts.
She also assumed that had a lot to do with the fact that she and her husband were in the 40-to-mid-40s age range, and surmised that someone in their 20s, who essentially always had the option, would likely be tracking their partner daily.
@simplyshannon70 That’s a hard no from me, but what do you do? Follow along to see the updates #track #iphone #relationships ♬ original sound - simplyshannon70
Turns out, plenty of folks around Shannon’s age do, in fact, keep location tracking on. However, it mostly came down to making life a little easier.
“Yep and 40s. Not a control issue, just convenience,.”
“37 — yes we do for safety purposes.”
“It saves a lot of phone calls asking or sharing ETAs in our young and busy family.
One person even joked “Sure do! 40s, and I wanna see how close he is to a Chinese buffet because he best be bringing me home a crab rangoon.
Plenty of folks went on to say that it’s not just their spouse that they have the locations turned on for. One person quipped, “Girl, I can see my best friend, roommate, mom, cousins, friends, everyone but Jesus himself 😂”
Still, not everyone was on board with the idea. As one person bluntly put it, “ I would never allow anyone to track me on purpose.”
However, as many noted, there is a difference between simply having location sharing apps on and checking them on occasion, versus full blown “tracking” someone and watching their every move, which indicates a lack of trust in the relationship…which is a different subject entirely. But in general, people can clearly have many different reasons for wanting to have location sharing on, all of which are valid. And some people might prefer to do things the semi-old fashioned way by sending text updates and whatnot. To each their own.
As far as how to keep location tracking as healthy as possible, licensed clinical psychologist Yasmine Saad shared with USA Today back in 2022 to keep things “solution oriented.” In other words, think about what “problem” will be addressed by turning location sharing on. If, for instance, one partner has been hurt by cheating in the past, location sharing can be a way to rebuild trust. Or, as seems to be the case with many folks, it could just be the problem of knowing when to start dinner, in which case location sharing can be a quick fix. As Saad also shared, a key ingredient to health location sharing is first making sure both parties are consenting.
So, as with all technology really, location tracking is merely a tool which we can use, in whatever way we want. It is helpful, however, to think about your international for why you want to use them.