Tracking each other through location.

The rise of technology has sparked a growing trend: the monitoring of loved ones for safety, surprise, and control.

Lori Lyons, a teacher at a New Orleans private school, reveals that her husband, Marty Luquet, has a habit of ignoring calls when he’s out. In such cases, she resorts to using the Life360 app to track his location.

Luquet, also the head coach of the school’s baseball team, finds comfort in checking his wife’s whereabouts on Life360 when he doesn’t answer calls. “As long as everything seems fine, we feel at ease,” he says.

With the rapid advancement of technology, couples and partners now have a multitude of options to keep tabs on each other. Alongside software solutions, devices like Apple AirTags and Samsung SmartTags have entered the scene.

In the sprawling city of Los Angeles, Ken White sought to amaze his wife on their anniversary with a jewelry gift. Yet, both being users of location-tracking apps, he opted to embark on a peculiar journey. Leaving behind his trusty iPhone and Apple Watch in the car, he ventured on foot to a store located 1.6 km away. “Anxious and clandestine, I abandoned all electronic devices,” he revealed.

However, the realm of location tracking is not without its flaws. In a tale etched into the memories of time, Ronit Boyd abruptly hit the brakes on a New Jersey highway one afternoon. It was the powerful allure of the Find My feature on her iPhone that unraveled the mystery, exposing her husband’s presence in a Manhattan hotel. Desperate for answers, her calls went unanswered, leaving her adrift in a sea of uncertainty.

“Emotions surged and panic set in. I wondered what he was doing at a hotel in the middle of the day. Crazy thoughts flashed through my mind,” she recalled.

Her husband explained that the Find My feature can sometimes malfunction. “Initially, I laughed when I received the call from my wife, but then I realized she was angry,” he said. “To this day, we still joke about it.”

However, there are also many cases where infidelity has been discovered through location tracking. An anonymous woman in Atlanta discovered her husband’s deception through a location-tracking app. The husband later admitted to the wrongdoing, and the couple is currently going through divorce proceedings.

Last year, Kashmir Hill, a technology journalist at The New York Times, also tried tracking her husband using a location-tracking device. After the experiment, she concluded that it was “quite boring,” but it did affect the psychology of both individuals.

“What surprised me was the feeling of tension when tracking and feeling guilty about things he didn’t know, such as a photographer following him based on my instructions. It was a relief when it ended,” Hill said.

San Francisco-based marriage and family psychotherapist, Traci Ruble, staunchly opposes the adoption of technology as a means to surveil one’s partner. According to Ruble, delving into the private lives of loved ones is a treacherous path to tread. “Within the realm of personal relationships lie idiosyncrasies and preferences that individuals may wish to keep hidden, even from their own partners,” Ruble cautions. She further asserts that the sparks of passion often ignite from the allure of the unknown and the space that exists between two individuals.