No Stupid Questions

"Not being cool enough to say where you are from" is a weird way for them to phrase it. If they're British, they might be saying it ironically (I use the phrase "well, if you're not cool enough..." as a reference to the old peer-pressure educational videos myself). Otherwise, they might be young, and clumsily trying to peer-pressure you, or old and out-of-touch enough to think that's an effective way to get a young person to give up information.

So, three options. They're either being ironic, clumsy, or creepy. No harm in playing safe and blocking them.

It's incredibly to normal to ask someone where they are from, it's just interesting to know. Normally it's just asking the country.

You dont have to answer at all of course, if someone doesnt respect that, then at least you know they arent worth your time.

Asking where someone is from is a common bit of information people ask/share during introductions, so it’s normal to be curious about that. It’s also normal to want to maintain privacy online, so don’t let randoms on the internet pressure you into sharing anything you’re not comfortable with.

To me there is nothing wrong with asking or stating what country you are from. Unless you are from a really tiny country it doesn't really matter if you state your country. For example I'm from the US which doesn't tell you anything really about my exact location.

The US is about 3,000 miles across. That doesn't included Hawaii or Alaska. It's about 1,582 miles from top to bottom of the US again not including Hawaii or Alaska.

So my saying I'm from the US doesn't give up much really but it gives people an idea about something about me and my heritage.

Yes.

Since the early days of Facebook, most people have been in roughly two camps: those who share just about anything, and those who share barely anything. Ok, there are also privacy minded people who share nothing at all, but that’s a different story.

People in the first category just love to tell you where they live, how many pets they have, send photos of everything etc. You know, social people. They also expect you the be like them, because that’s how tribalism works. It’s the default setting in the human brain, and disabling or even just limiting that urge takes some some skill and effort.

People in the second category share only a few opinions, but never their location or photos. I think most people on Lemmy are like this.

I sometimes like to know the general area someone's from (country or state), so I understand the context of their experience or point of view. It's not anything I would push if the person felt uncomfortable sharing. That sounds like a red flag.

A/S/L?

Why would anyone want to know about each other’s location?

What an odd thing to ask. Where are you from?