You may have heard about Snapchat's controversial new feature 'Snap Maps', which is a live, interactive map that shares your exact location with all of your Snapchat friends. Think of it as the equivalent to the real life Marauders map from *Harry Potter *(except a lot less cool). Apparently, it was designed to keep you in the loop about what your friends are doing, and vice versa.
But riddle us this: why on earth would anyone want to reveal their precise location with the world, 24/7? We certainly wouldn't. As well as causing arguments amongst groups of friends who can see when they've been left out on social gatherings (awks), the new feature is also a massive privacy and safety threat. It provides people with the ability to literally stalk you.
Basically, this feature could put you in danger: somebody with bad intentions could find out your location and follow your every move. Or, people could discover that you're not at home, and your house could therefore become a target for burglary. If you ask us, the cons of the feature heavily outweigh the pros (if there are any at all).
A spokesperson for Snapchat said: "Snapchatters can choose exactly who they want to share their location with, if at all, and can change that setting at any time. It's also not possible to share your location with someone who isn't already your friend on Snapchat, and the majority of interactions on Snapchat take place between close friends." But I beg to differ. I have people on my Snapchat friends who I've only ever met once, while I've been out at a bar or guys I've been on dates with. And I don't particularly want them knowing my location.
The only silver lining to this feature is that you can disable it, by opting to hide your location in Ghost Mode. Now, not to sound like your mum, but I recommend that you all do this, and pronto.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.