Sharing your location is not always a sign of a toxic relationship. Personally, I have always shared my location with my partner and they have always shared theirs. Challenge your view on what you think before you judge.
To begin, my family has always shared our locations. Some people look at this as toxic parenting, but it has always been a safety issue for my parents. They use Life360, which can track the speed of the car you are driving in. This was my parents’ main issue, as I was an avid speeder. They never did it because they did not trust me, and I never felt uncomfortable lying to my parents about where I was.
With my friends, we have our locations shared as well. It helps when they are at a party that I want to go to. I can just use their location to get to it. I have never judged them for where they are, and I honestly never think twice about it. I am also glad they know where I am because I think that they are more reliable in tracking me than my parents are.
When it comes to relationships, I do not see any differences. If I allow my friends to have my location, why would I not share it with someone I am involved with romantically?
Personally, I think there is more distrust in not sharing it. Once, I was seeing a guy who had his Snapchat map location on. He would constantly use this feature to see what his friends were up to. Eventually, we had a conversation about sharing locations, and he was extremely hesitant. He claimed he did not like Apple knowing where he was, and that Apple was tracking too much of his data.
I was confused by this, as he already used Snapchat maps. It was all too much of a red flag, so I had to move on. But this left a lot of questions, such as where is a healthy boundary drawn or is it even toxic to begin with?
I think sharing location is only toxic when there is already a breach of trust. For example, I had a friend whose long-distance boyfriend cheated on her. After he apologized, they decided to get back together. The only caveat of this is that she demanded he share his location with her. With this, she became obsessed with tracking him. She never trusted him, and would often ask for picture proof as to where he was.
Because this put such a strain on their relationship, they did end up breaking up. He could not handle the constant monitoring, and he ended it. This just goes to show if you are already in a relationship that is going through challenges, it probably is not best to put more stress on it.
Ultimately, it is best to review your relationship before you implement tracking to it. It is not always a bad thing, as location services can keep you safe and let you know where someone is in a social way. At the end of the day, you have to have your own opinion on it and create a dynamic that works best for you and your partner.