Photo: TikTok
This social phenomenon seems to be stumping people as they debate over whether or not announcing where you're going should be a common courtesy.
By Isaac Serna-Diez — Written on Apr 05, 2023
A man on TikTok sparked a wildfire of debate after posting a video on April 4, 2023, which has already received over 4.4 million views and nearly 5000 comments just after 24 hours.
He prefaces the video by explaining that his sample size is “based on prior dates with an only child,” but stumbles onto something that turned out to be a massive distinction in the perceptions of reality between two different types of people — children with siblings and only children.
He claims that people with siblings always have to announce where they’re going while only children don’t.
The man whose name on TikTok is Jeronimo (@jeronimoooo0000) opened the 5-second clip by asking people “Do you announce everywhere you’re going before you go? Or are you an only child?”
The next scene is a reenactment of what he means, pretending like he’s talking to someone else and saying “I’m going to go to the bathroom” while the other person simply responds with an “ok.”
Personally, as someone with a sibling and someone who grew up in a Hispanic (Colombian) household, I have to announce where I’m going all the time or I’ll check my phone and see 50 missed calls with the police zeroing in on my location because of a Missing Persons APB.
Strict parents during my childhood aside, the prospect of not telling someone I’m with where I’m going just sounds like a strange concept — why would I just up and leave without saying a word?
Considering Jeronimo asked this question with the idea of dates in mind, wouldn’t it be rude to just walk away from your date without saying anything? Imagine you’re at dinner, mid-conversation, and your date just walks away.
You assume they’re going to the restroom, but why not say something? Also, how is this only akin to people with siblings?
Only children in the comments of his video claim they always found this practice weird.
One of the top comments reads, “Only child [here], never realized that’s why it’s weird to me that people narrate their next move,” prompting Jeronimo to say “It’s pretty crazy how different everyone’s reality really is lol.”
“I didn’t realize this was an only child thing. [People] always say ‘I’m going to x’ and I’m like ‘Ok why are you telling me?’” reads another top comment. Jeronimo responded “I just wanna let you know so you don’t worry” with a frowny face, but the other only children said they don’t care.
Some people reasoned that you should tell people where you’re going in case something it happening and you need to be accounted for — for example if you were watching TV and just left, someone might change it from what you were watching because they think you’re not coming back.
Maybe you’re playing a sport or doing an activity, and people need to know where you ran off to and if you’ll be back soon in order to start or to get a head count. There are many reasons why it would just be a courteous thing to do, and many just think it’s rude not to.
Some were like me, and said “I’m Mexican, so it kinda comes [with] having a Mexican mom. You need to tell her or you’re in trouble for not saying where you’re going,” as another wrote, “I thought it was a Hispanic thing.”
Fortunately, this phenomenon may be relatively contained, as only 20% of households in the United States contain only child families, according to Pew Research Center, but TikTok never fails to show us what color the grass is on the other side.
Isaac Serna-Diez is an Assistant Editor who focuses on entertainment and news, social justice, and politics. Keep up with his rants about current events on his Twitter.