Ever since she had her twins, Scout and Violet, in March of 2021, Maia Knight’s TikTok account has been one of my favorite corners of the internet. With more than five million followers, the single mother – who’s notorious for holding her babies with one arm while preparing their bottles with the other as she shares tidbits about just about anything that’s on her mind – doesn’t romanticize her life or shy away from the difficult parts of it; her videos are full of chaotic energy — both intentional and unplanned — whether she’s sharing their family’s morning routine or going to the bar with her friends. With so many problematic influencer families out there, Maia and her content comes off as a breath of fresh air, and has easily cemented the trio as Gen Z’s favorites — no easy feat when you look at just how many adorable babies have found their niche on the TikTok. But somehow, Maia found the recipe to get Gen Z obsessed with her. For a generation that’s choosing not to have kids in the future (a 2019 report from YouGov suggests that one in eight 18-to-24-year-olds doesn’t want to have children), how did we all come to find ourselves on what I’m dubbing the baby fever side of TikTok?
We keep up with these babies like they’re our own. Maia’s followers even claim themselves as the twins’ dad (their biological father immediately elected to be out of the picture), and comments like, “Here to pay my child support,” can be found underneath every single one of her videos. Maia is 100% in on Gen Z’s humor, often poking fun at herself, her babies, and even her journey as a single parent. (Her fit checks are a fan favorite: old sweatshirt, pants from summer camp, UGG boots, and babies from an unplanned pregnancy, and to troll the mom-shaming haters, Maia usually does “Crazy Friday,” where she pretends to be pissed off at her children, for example giving them their least favorite meal or putting them to work). Maia is one of the most unintentionally funny creators on the app and the CEO of baby fever content. Keeping up with her daily posts feels like supporting our best friend who just had a baby (or two); we’re all part of the family at this point, and even our generation, who’s choosing to be mostly child-free, can fall victim to baby fever, one post at a time.
According to Merriam-Webster, baby fever is “the name for the longing that some people experience relating to the desire of having a child of their own.” It can be an ongoing struggle for some. It can be a sudden desire for others, especially if you stumble across a particularly cute photo or video of a little kid like Scout or Violet. Meguire, 19, can’t help but feel the baby fever, even with the healthy dose of realism that Maia offers her viewers. “Maia does an amazing job showing her viewers an equal balance of wonderful and more difficult days with her little ones,” she tells Her Campus. “I do have baby fever, seriously,” Meguire adds. “It’s really bad.” But Meguire knows how to stave it off, seeing as she doesn’t plan to have kids until she’s well into her 20s.
Maeve, 21, isn’t sure if she’d like to have kids in the future and doesn’t typically suffer from baby fever. “It’s more of the, ‘Aw, that’s super cute, but I’m still in college and can barely keep my dorm plants alive’ type of thing,” she tells Her Campus. But that thought often flies out the window for a couple of seconds whenever she sees Scout and Violet, who she keeps up with religiously.
For those who are on the line of uncertainty regarding children in the future, is the baby fever you feel watching adorable baby after baby pop up on your FYP enough to get you to change your mind? Is the baby fever be real? Is Gen Z reconsidering their child-free future?
Sarah Kaufman, a therapist at Cobb Psychotherapy LCSW, explains that while baby fever is completely normal, it can’t make anybody change their mind on the decision of having (or not having) a baby, since that choice is probably a firm decision rooted in someone’s morals and beliefs (i.e., something that isn’t going to be easily changed). “A video or photo can’t get someone to completely change their mind on the decision of having a baby,” she tells Her Campus.
Instead, it seems as though those adorable babies operate as a stand-in for young people who aren’t ready for – or don’t want – children of their own. In other words, Gen Z is living vicariously through parents like Maia. As the most progressive population, many members of Gen Z don’t want to bring children into a world that is falling apart around them.
In an article for The Guardian, Sian Cain shared their reasons for not wanting to have children. “If my baby were to [have been born in 2020], they would be ten years old when a quarter of the world’s insects could be gone, when 100 million children are expected to be suffering extreme food scarcity. My child would be 23 when 99% of coral reefs are set to experience severe bleaching. They would be 30…when 200 million climate refugees will be roaming the world, when half of all species on Earth are predicted to be extinct in the wild. They would be 80 in 2100, when parts of Australia, Africa and the United States could be uninhabitable,” Cain wrote. And Cain isn’t alone. A 2021 report by Pew Research Center shows that 76% of Gen Z lists climate change as one of their biggest concerns for the future, with 37% labeling it their number one concern.
Beyond grave concerns for the future, some people just don’t want children of their own, and they don’t need an earth-shattering reason to make that decision. That doesn’t mean they don’t still like kids. “It’s so entertaining to watch babies online, and it might give you the same fuzzy feeling of seeing a small puppy or kitten. It can be a quick break from daily life and can give us a good dose of dopamine, too,” Kaufman says. “Some people feel relieved and optimistic when they see babies and their pure happiness. They’re young and innocent, shielded from the horrors of adulthood.”
That explains why Gen Z is so obsessed with Maia, Scout, and Violet; they offer us our daily dose of dopamine without the commitment of actually having a kid ourselves. “I see Scotch and Vodka more than my own family,” one follower comments, playing up an inside joke between Maia and her followers in which they give the girls nicknames that start with S and V. For us, it’s enough to pretend to co-parent Snape and Voldemort.
Expert Sources:
Sarah Kaufman, LMSW
Studies Referenced:
YouGov. 2019 Results – Choosing Not To Have Children
Alec Tyson, Brian Kennedy, and Cary Funk for Pew Research Center. 2021 Gen Z, Millennials Stand Out for Climate Change Activism, Social Media Engagement With Issue.