One thing I’ve noticed lately is the number of people publishing “I ran XX miles with ___” to their social media sites. I hadn’t given much thought to this until this morning when I actually clicked on someone’s link. What I saw scared me. Here’s an example:
Since most people take the same, or substantially similar routes to places, this leaves open a number of possible problems. This picture shows my common route from home to my office. Although I never publicly share these routes (I have specific settings), far too many people don’t watch themselves. I can envision a number of potentially bad situations that occur because of someone’s innocent sharing of their route.
While I endorse a number of route tracking apps, I emphasize that you need to make sure you’re not sharing more than you bargained for. A mere matter of minutes is all a thief or stalker needs to cause serious problems in your world. If you want to share your runs, walks or travels, make sure you’re not broadcasting the information to the world. Keep your shared routes private. At least make it difficult for someone looking to cause you harm.
