What parents should know about location sharing and college students

At a glance

• Location sharing is now part of everyday college life. Students use apps like Snap Maps and Find My to make plans, signal closeness, check on friends and stay connected — not just for safety.
• Healthy location sharing starts with communication. Parents should text or call first and use location sharing as a backup for specific safety or travel check-ins, not as a way to monitor daily life.
• Talk about boundaries before move-in day. Families should agree on when location sharing is okay, what privacy looks like and whether “Ghost Mode” needs an explanation.

Why location sharing matters differently for college students

Gen Z uses location sharing in ways that parents might not expect. It’s how they define friendships and keep each other safe. It plays a role in the logistics of relationships, too, whether between roommates, close friends or students who are dating. Which means families with teens heading to college now may need something previous generations never really had: a shared understanding of the rules.

To better understand how families are navigating the new rules of location sharing, we spoke with a college student, a professor who studies technology and learning, and a parent preparing to use location sharing with her kids for the first time.

Text first, check location second

Checking someone’s location shouldn’t take the place of reaching out to communicate. Location sharing is a tool that should be seen as a backup, not a replacement for actual conversation.

“If my parents are wondering where I am or what I’m doing, they’ll text me first,” says Maximilian Milovidov, a 19-year-old freshman and digital safety advocate at Columbia University.

Understand that, for Gen Z, location sharing is part of social life

Location sharing is becoming a passive communication layer that sits underneath texting and social media. Apps like Snap Maps are closely tied to friendships and everyday college life. Students use them to see who’s nearby, whether friends are still out or if someone is still busy. Sometimes, Milovidov says, students will open apps like Snap Maps just to see where everyone is and what’s going on.

“It’s part of our social dynamics,” Milovidov says.

Give your college student room to go offline

For parents, seeing a location suddenly disappear can immediately trigger concern. But there are plenty of reasons your student may temporarily stop sharing their location:

• They simply want privacy.
• They’re overwhelmed socially.
• They’re studying nonstop during finals.
• They just want a break from feeling visible all the time.

That perspective matters for parents of teens heading to college: turning location sharing off isn’t always about hiding something. There are social dynamics attached to it. Some students keep locations open to almost everyone, while others carefully manage who can see them. Some use Ghost Mode strategically during finals week, after breakups or simply when they don’t want to broadcast their whereabouts to an entire friend group.

Watch for location-sharing anxiety

Ray Pastore, Ph.D., professor and program coordinator of Esports and Online Teaching and Learning at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, says parents can accidentally create anxiety for themselves when they’re compulsively checking their child’s location — it can be one more thing parents refresh throughout the day alongside email, texts, social media and news alerts.

“Don’t make it part of your routine,” Pastore advises. Instead, he suggests using location sharing more intentionally: checking to see if they made it back to school safely or if they landed safely during a semester abroad.

Distance can make the urge to share locations stronger

One parent, Marla Binker never thought much about location sharing when her two children were younger. But when her oldest son planned his first solo trip to New York City, the conversation changed.

“I don’t need to know whether he’s in his apartment or in a class or at the store,” she says. “But when he’s in New York City, it’ll make me feel better to know where he is.”

Talk about location sharing before move-in day

Parents and their college-student kids should talk about expectations openly. Some questions to talk through:

• When is it okay to check in?
• Does Ghost Mode need an explanation?
• What counts as an emergency (meaning, when might location-sharing information be cause for concern)?
• What happens when someone wants more independence later?

The conversations triggered by these questions may matter more than actual location sharing itself.

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