Jessica Maddox, associate professor of media studies in Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, spoke with The Washington Post about how Gen Z has embraced location sharing apps beyond parent surveillance.
More apps have added maps features recently due to this, the latest being Instagram, but many are unsure about this latest addition.
Location sharing is seen as online authenticity, but that desire doesn’t outweigh distrust of Meta.
“They’ve been on social media long enough, and have been wronged by social media enough, that they are right to be suspicious of this Instagram feature,” Maddox said. “I think back to earlier this year, when TikTok was going to be banned, right? [Young] people literally joined a Chinese app instead of going to Instagram.”
Maddox points out that location sharing goes hand in hand with Gen Z’s quest to be authentic online.