Parents feel ‘fambushed' by teens — who are tracking their every move
It was supposed to help parents sleep at night — now it's their kids who won't leave them alone.
Thanks to family-tracking apps like Life360, a new generation of teens has turned the tables on their parents, using the digital leash meant for safety to spy, stalk and score snacks.
The trend has been dubbed 'fambushing,' a mashup of 'family' and 'ambushing,' and parents say it's ruining their peace, their privacy — and their queso.
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3 Family-tracking apps like Life360 were made to keep teens safe — but now the kids are flipping the script, using them to stalk, snoop, and snag snacks on demand.
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'I can never run errands in peace,' wrote mom Nicole DeRoy in a recent TikTok clip, where she revealed her teen now tracks her every move.
'POV: you downloaded Life360 when your teen started driving to make sure they were safe, but now they track your every move,' she wrote.
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Some moms are even getting surprise visits while dining out.
'When your daughter stalks your location and sees that you're out eating Mexican food,' Chrysta captioned her TikTok video — which documents her daughter stopping by the restaurant. 'I hate Life360.'
Jayme Beecher Crosby got hit with the ultimate chip heist when her teen daughter showed up at her restaurant table and helped herself.
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'When your daughter tracks you on Life 360 & shows up to steal chips/salsa and water,' she wrote.
According to Life360, teens — especially the driving-age crowd — now open the app 25% more often than their parents and set 70% more 'Place Alerts,' turning everyday errands into opportunities for freebies or family ambushes.
And Gen Z, the first generation of true digital natives, isn't stopping there.
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Between Snap Map and iPhone's location sharing, many teens know where everyone is, all the time — and they're not shy about pulling up.
''Safe' is the number one term that comes to mind for 66% of Gen Z respondents when thinking about location sharing,' Lauren Antonoff, Life360's COO, told Parents.
'Eighty-seven percent of Gen Z respondents said they use the technology for long-distance driving, 80% when visiting new or dangerous places, 77% when going to an event, concert, or festival, and 78% when they are going to party or on a date.'
Antonoff adds, '72% of Gen Z women believe their physical well-being benefits from location sharing.'
3 Life360 says teens — especially the ones with car keys — are checking the app 25% more than their folks and setting 70% more Place Alerts to turn errands into ambush ops.
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Still, even the experts admit this digital snooping can go too far — especially when it's the kids playing parent.
'When teens track their parents and show up unannounced to ask for things like Starbucks or rides, it can blur the line between connection and control,' pediatrician and mom Dr. Mona Amin told the outlet.
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'If a parent were tracking a teen this way — constantly checking in or popping up — we'd probably call it helicopter parenting.'
'The key is making sure there are agreed-upon boundaries and that teens still learn how to ask, not just access,' Dr. Amin added.
'Parents are people too — and teaching that early helps foster mutual respect.'
As previously reported by The Post, nearly nine in 10 Americans say sharing their location actually makes life better — at least according to Life360, the tracking app with 80 million users and counting.
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However, there are still caveats.
Connecticut mom Jennifer Long had no problem tracking her teens on Life360 — until the tables turned.
3 If the roles were reversed, and Mom was popping up unannounced? Experts say we'd call it what it is — classic helicopter parenting.
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When her daughters spotted she was 'getting some aesthetic work done,' the flustered mama slammed the digital door, blocking them from following her every move.
'It's really more about me watching their safety,' she told The Post.
So next time you sneak out for margaritas? Maybe go airplane mode.
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