Yeah it’s normal, it’s one of the first things I ask or get asked when I meet new people online.

It’s cool to meet new people from all around the world, so knowing where someone’s from is really interesting and gives people stuff to talk about too!

Plus, it’s very helpful, because once you know where someone’s from you know their timezone, what sort of weather they deal with, you might have some insight into their culture etc to better ensure you don’t offend them, or maybe you’ve visited or love something about their country so again you now have new things to talk about :-D

Anyway yeah, similarly with wanting to know someone’s age, location is often one of the first questions we as strangers ask each other in online conversation.

Age is also super useful to know, are we talking to a 12 year old? A 20 year old? A 60 year old? Knowing their age will better inform us of how to have a positive and respectful conversation, it’ll inform us of what part of their life there in and thus we can take guesses to their generational cultural norms and interests, if they’re likely to have a career, or be married, or if they’re likely still in education studying for their masters, etc etc.

You don’t need to know an EXACT age, just as you don’t need to know an EXACT location, but “I’m in my 20s from England” is a more than appropriate response :-)

Bottom line: Always trust your gut if someone seems weird online, but don’t assume they’re weird just because they want to know some basic details like A/S/L 👍