Are Location-Based Services a Step Back in Online Friending Behavior?

I am obsessed with Foursquare.  I'm also a (really tough!) female living in a reasonably dangerous city.

Neither of these facts are any kind of secret to anyone who knows me personally, discovers my Twitter account, friends me on Facebook, subscribes to me on GetGlue, or stands behind me in line at any coffee shop (someday I will be mayor of one that will give me free coffee).

But this is the kind of information that would freak my mom right out. Using a service to tell people where I am...