Latest news with #FindMyFriends
Metro
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Metro
Series compared to Friends leaves fans begging for one thing after 8 episodes
It's been over 30 years since the first episode of Friends, when Rachel Green infamously ran into Central Perk in a wedding dress – now there's a new show about New Yorkers muddling through in their twenties in its stead. The eight-episode comedy Adults sees a group of twenty-something housemates navigating the highs and lows of adulthood together and it's already being compared to the sitcom classic. The new Disney Plus show follows the close-knit – and perhaps codependent – friendship group of Samir (Malik Elassal), Billie (Lucy Freyer), Paul (Jack Innanen), Issa (Amita Rao) and Anton (Owen Thiele) as they live together in Samir's childhood home in Queens. With a stellar soundtrack and guest stars ranging from Charlie Cox to Julia Fox, the show has already gone down a storm with Disney subscribers and is climbing up the platform's UK top 10 ranking. The official synopsis for Adults reads: 'Whether they're trying to get ahead at work, navigating the healthcare system, hosting a dinner party or dating in the age of Find My Friends, the group is finding that nothing about the real world is simple, and all their best intentions tend to make things worse.' The show's creators, Ben Kronengold and Rebecca Shaw, are former writers on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and referenced Friends as one of the inspirations. 'We grew up on Friends, Seinfeld, Living Single and then Broad City and Girls, all of these friend group comedies,' Shaw told The Sydney Morning Herald. 'It's our favourite genre of television.' The writing duo are also a couple, as Kronengold added: 'We bonded over it very early in our friendship and relationship. We were fans, but also students of the thing. Even the name, Adults, is kind of an homage to the genre.' Shaw continued: '[The show is about] that symbiosis of those two parts of young adulthood: the discomfort of wading through something strange, and then knowing your friends will be there for you on the other side of it.' Disney Plus viewers have already taken to X to praise the show, with @poetsonfilm tweeting: 'Finally started watching adults and it's an instant hit what can i say.' @Bondos_b) added: 'Finished season 1 of Adults and I loved it. Felt like a modern day Friends. I hope this gets a second season!' They then added: 'Overcompensating was better though,' referring to the similar Gen Z comedy currently streaming on Prime Video. Fellow viewers were also adamant the show needs a second season, with @leedfrazer writing: 'Still waiting for that Adults season two renewal FX… anytime now…' @Maxime_pvv chimed in: 'I've just (already) finished all 8 episodes of #AdultsFX, really a fun comedy like we had in the 2010s. I'm hoping for a season 2 because I miss them already!' More Trending There are also plenty of stellar reviews of the show on IMDb, with @Katie-612 writing: 'I think so many sitcoms are pitched now as being 'like Friends for Gen Z' but it's hard to find a show that actually understands what made Friends so captivating. 'I found Adults to be laugh out loud funny and it truly felt like it was written by people in their 20s who understand what it's like to be entering adulthood in this decade. 'Most importantly, I think it really captured friendships and the kind of odd groups you often find yourself in right out of college. I think this show will really find its footing in the next seasons and we'll begin to feel really attached to the characters. I put it on expecting to just watch a few episodes but I ended up bingeing the whole thing.' Adults is available to stream on Disney Plus. Got a story? If you've got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@ calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we'd love to hear from you. View More » MORE: All episodes of 'thrilling' axed historical drama dropping on free UK streamer MORE: I'm a TV critic – here's 7 shows I'm bingeing in June MORE: Disney+ users warned to check important detail to avoid £1,000 fine
RNZ News
28-05-2025
- Health
- RNZ News
Tracking apps and their use in coercive relationships
It's natural for parents to want to know where their children are and technology has made that easier with the use of tracking apps like Life360, Find My Friends or Google Family. But research suggests that the use of these apps may have unintended consequences, normalising the idea of personal tracking to the point where young people don't recognise when a partner crosses the line from caring to coercive. Spanish researcher and academic, María Atiénzar Prieto is doing her PhD on how young people perceive the use of digital technology as a form of control in relationships. She explains to Kathryn how her work raises concerns about the failure to set appropriate digital boundaries. Originally from Spain, María Atiénzar Prieto is doing her PhD at Griffith University in Queensland. Photo: SUPPLIED/María Atiénzar Prieto
The Guardian
19-05-2025
- The Guardian
Tracking apps might make us feel safe, but blurring the line between care and control can be dangerous
Who knows where you are right now? Your friends, your boss? Maybe your parents? How about your partner? According to recent research by the Office of the eSafety Commissioner, 'nearly 1 in 5 young people believe it's OK to track their partner whenever they want'. As a long-term and stubbornly-vocal privacy advocate, I find this alarming. It's hard to imagine a bigger red flag than someone wanting to keep tabs on my daily movements. It's not that I'm doing anything remotely secretive: my days are most often spent working from home, punctuated by trips to the bakery – scandalous! But it's not about whether I have anything to hide from my partner. Everyone ought to have the right to keep things to themselves, and choose when they do or don't share. After reading this study I became troubled by a niggling feeling that perhaps I'm standing alone in the corner of the party while all my friends share their locations with one another. So I conducted a highly unscientific survey of people in my life. As it turns out, aside from a small handful who share my resistance, lots of people are indeed keeping digital tabs on one another. Sign up for a weekly email featuring our best reads Many constantly share their location with their partner, or use apps like Life360 or Find My Friends. Some groups of friends all do it together, and talk of it as a kind of digital closeness where physical distance and the busyness of life keeps them apart (I assure myself that I'm not invited to the tracking party for obvious reasons). Others use apps to keep familial watch over older relatives – especially when their health may be in decline. Obviously this is anecdotal, but it seems people are using all kinds of digital monitoring for all kinds of reasons, not all of them nefarious. Some research suggests the notion of 'careful surveillance' can form intimacy in ways that complicates typical ideas of privacy. It's hard to ignore the gendered nature of all this. The eSafety Commissioner's research specifically highlights that men are significantly more likely to consider intimate partner monitoring as reasonable and a 'sign of care'. Conversely, women tell me they digitally track one another as a safety mechanism while walking home at night, travelling alone or out on dates – specifically as a response to the terrifying state of men's violence against women. Likewise, research shows how some women perceive their phone as a key tool to mitigate safety risk. Perhaps one of the most disturbing notions is that acceptance of digital monitoring is often presented as a way to create – rather than undermine – a sense of trust. When government officials or tech industry bigwigs proclaim that you should be OK with being spied on if you're not doing anything wrong, they're asking (well, demanding) that we trust them. But it's not about trust, it's about control and disciplining behaviour. 'Nothing to hide; nothing to fear' is a frustratingly persistent fallacy, one in which we ought to be critical of when its underlying (lack of) logic creeps into how we think about interacting with one another. When it comes to interpersonal surveillance, blurring the boundary between care and control can be dangerous. The eSafety Commissioner is right to raise concerns that many of these behaviours are characteristic of tech-based coercive control, and to call out that use of digital spying tools by parents on their children has 'anaesthetised young people to the whole idea of being monitored', teaching them that surveillance is a form of love. Just as normalising state and corporate surveillance can lead to further erosion of rights and freedoms over time, normalising interpersonal surveillance seems to be changing the landscape of what's considered to be an expression of love – and not necessarily for the better. Many parents opt to use digital monitoring apps for fear for their children's safety. But this troubled association between surveillance and safety doesn't just come from protective parents: it's a long-held position of police, intelligence agencies and even politicians. It can be found in the repeated attempts to undermine end-to-end encryption, despite secure communications being essential to many people's online safety. It's in the moves to put facial recognition into CCTV cameras throughout Melbourne, despite it being well documented that such technologies demonstrate racial bias and exacerbate harms against people of colour. It's in assuring students that university wifi tracking and campus cameras are for safety, then weaponising it against them for protesting. We ought to be very critical of claims that equate surveillance with safety. Sign up to Five Great Reads Each week our editors select five of the most interesting, entertaining and thoughtful reads published by Guardian Australia and our international colleagues. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Saturday morning after newsletter promotion As is often the case with issues of privacy, the boundaries between what might be OK and what feels intrusive generally comes back to a few key principles. This includes meaningful consent (do you know when, how and why it's being used, and do you have the ability to say no without repercussions?) and purpose limitation (is it for specific situations? Or is it all the time and for any reason?). As always, questions of who holds power and agency are crucial. Maybe these are markers of changing notions of love and care in a time of rampant surveillance, but, as always, we ought to be careful about what we usher in as the new normal. For me, I'll be holding on to a more offline kind of love. Samantha Floreani is a digital rights activist and writer. They are the program lead at Digital Rights Watch
Scottish Sun
10-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Scottish Sun
Emma Raducanu reveals she keeps being BANNED from Italian Open grounds and was exposed by officials
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) LAUGHING Emma Raducanu revealed she keeps getting banned from the Italian Open. And she even got exposed by the tournament's officials. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 3 Emma Raducanu could not help herself from laughing after her forgetfulness was exposed 3 The Brit revealed she keeps losing her Italian Open accreditation Raducanu booked her spot in the third round with wins over Maya Joint and Jil Teichmann in Rome. And after her second win, she could not help but giggle during her brilliant post-match interview with Sky Sports as her forgetfulness became public knowledge. For security reasons, players, coaches, media and site staff must have their accreditation on them at all times at tennis tournaments to prove their identity. But it turns out Raducanu might be finding some form on the court - but is struggling to locate her passes off it. Karthi Gnanasegaram said: "It's going pretty well in Rome except for the fact that I think you keep losing your accreditation. "Are you top of the list for people losing their accreditation and not being allowed into the grounds?" And that prompted Raducanu to burst into laughter. The British sensation quipped in reply: "Yeah, well, I've won something this week already. CASINO SPECIAL - BEST CASINO BONUSES FROM £10 DEPOSITS "So I was the first person to lose my accreditation. "And then I lost the second accreditation. Shocking moment tennis star smashes ball at rival's head in frustration before he is disqualified "And then I got exposed on the board at the entrance. "It's not ideal but to be honest it pretty much sums me up." Last year, Raducanu's best friend Shauna left her pal red-faced by telling Roman Kemp that the first app she uses on her phone each morning is Find My Friends. Then in February, the former US Open champion candidly told a reporter that she is a big night owl and likes to go out for walks at 11pm. But she then added: "I don't know if that is smart or not…" Raducanu will hope the unwanted accreditation award is not the only trophy she can claim from her trip to Rome. The world No49 faces Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday for a place in the last 16. That will take place on Sunday, the same day as Jack Draper's third-round match. 3 Raducanu has won two matches to book her spot in round three Credit: Getty
Business Insider
08-05-2025
- Business Insider
I started tracking my teenagers on Life360. It's helped us all in more ways than I thought.
When my kids first got phones, we had open conversations about safety and agreed to use location-sharing apps like Life360 and Find My Friends. I expected some pushback because what teenager wants their parents tracking their every move? But to my surprise, they were open to it. At first, the tracking apps worked exactly as I expected. I could check if they arrived at school safely, see when they needed to be picked up, and later, when they started driving, confirm they made it to their destination without constantly texting, "Did you get there OK?" It was a useful tool and a small way to ease my worries while giving them independence. After a little while, something unexpected happened. One afternoon, I was sitting in a Panera booth when I got a text from my daughter: "Can you get me a cookie?" Confused, I asked, "Why are you asking me that? You're at school." "I just feel like a Panera cookie," she replied. That was when it hit me. She knew exactly where I was. My daughter was tracking me. It was odd knowing that the tables were turned. The realization that my kids could also track me made me more aware of how I used the app. I know there are workarounds where kids can turn it off or mask their location, but overall, the app was good for me as a worried mom. Apparently, it was good for them, too. The app I got for my peace of mind was now being used to track me Soon, I realized all my kids were using location tracking — but not in the way I had originally intended. At first, they tried to mask it with casual "Where are you?" texts, but I knew better. I did the same thing when they first got phones, pretending I didn't already see their location before asking. I started getting texts while I was at the grocery store: "Can you grab some snacks?" It quickly became a family joke. If I took a different route home, stopping to see my parents, they'd text a quick "Say hi to Grandma and Grandpa!" If I made an unexpected stop at Walmart, my phone would buzz with a list of things they needed. I was no longer the one keeping tabs; they were. The app has fostered communication and consideration More than just safety, location sharing has reshaped how we communicate. My oldest checks if my husband and I are out for a walk before calling, not wanting to interrupt. If my kids see I'm working at the library, they send a text instead of calling. If they notice my husband is en route to the hospital with a patient in the back of an ambulance, they know he's busy and can't pick up. What started as a tool to keep tabs on my kids has evolved into something more — a way for our family to stay connected. It has become less about supervision and more about convenience, consideration, and even humor. As my kids, now 16, 18, and 20, have gotten older, we've talked about the role of tracking apps in our family. Despite the shift in who's tracking whom, they still agree to keep them. There's something comforting in knowing that my kids check on me just as much as I check on them. It's a reminder that no matter how much independence they gain, family is still at the core of their daily lives. In the end, it's not about control. It's about knowing we're all OK, no matter where we are.
