To check-in or not to check-in?

I 'checked-in' for the first time on Friday night.

People check-in all the time, I know it's not a new thing, but I am one of those people who are avidly against telling the world where I am and who I am with at any set point in time.

I don't know why I'm against it, I don't have any stalker ex-boyfriends who might be trying to hunt me down or anything exciting like that, I just think our lives are already public enough.

I had my friend's iPhone out while we were at a restaurant in Angel, and I checked-in to the Italian restaurant we were at, tagging all the people I was with.

When I arrived home some hours later, all my belongings were still where I left them. Laptop – check. Jewellery – check. Stash of cash kept under my mattress – I wish. Right, so no one had used the knowledge of my being out drinking cocktails and eating pasta to break into my house either. It looks like this check-in thing isn’t such a big deal after all.

But I’m still not a convert. If I start checking in to everywhere I go, what will happen when I want to have a lazy Friday night on the couch? Do I check in to my couch and face the uproar from friends whose invites I have kindly turned down in favour of a much needed night in. Or do I not check in at all and face the “Where are you?” queries from all my followers (Who are watching my every move, right?) So now there’s social pressure to attend the best events in town. Or maybe, people – shock horror - actually just don’t care where I am, who I’m with and what I’m doing. In which case, I won’t take up space in their news feeds by telling them when I’m at the gym, the supermarket, or when I’m on my couch.

A friend of mine has admitted to ‘selective’ check-ins. “I always check-in when I’m at the gym so people can see I’m being really good. But I don’t check-in to Ben and Jerry’s. Ever.” So now we’re life censoring, displaying the best and hiding the worst, making me feel guiltier about my night on the couch while gym bunny over here is slogging it out at the gym – for the sixth time this week.

Not many PR campaigns have tapped into location-based tools yet, but the fact that smart phones are quickly taking over means it’s only a matter of time before there’s a ‘check-in’ element to every event. Before long it will probably be standard.

So is checking-in dangerous? Or is it simply TMI in the social media-frenzied world we live in? Or is it the way forward? In which case ... now, how exactly do I check-in?