I totally see why this is a fear. But actually I don't see a feature like this causing these kind of problems. How is it any different than receiving a text when you are busy or running into someone you know when you don't have time to chat. Everyone has times when they are busy and everyone has times when they aren't busy and want to be social.
I guess it's just like bumping into someone that you know when you don't have time to chat - but with a 50-fold increase in the radius of my personal sphere. I'd definitely give it a shot, at least, to see if I liked it.
