A man says he calls his friends and hears their kids screaming in the background, and it has never once made him want kids of his own

A TikToker says hearing his friends’ kids screaming in the background during phone calls has never made him want children of his own. As detailed by The Daily Dot, Jake, who posts as @jack..tok, shared why he does not want kids and how people often push back on his decision.

Jake said he likes his independence and is not envious of his friends when he calls them and hears their kids in the background. His TikTok video has drawn hundreds of thousands of views and thousands of comments, with many viewers agreeing with him.

He said people often respond with phrases like “it’s the best decision I’ve ever made,” seemingly to convince him to change his mind. The reaction annoys him because some people do not seem to think wanting independence is a good enough reason, and he claimed they sometimes almost try to gaslight him.

The comment section largely took his side

One person asked Jake who would take care of him when he got older. Jake said he found it wild to put the responsibility of caring for him on the shoulders of children he never wanted.

“I don’t want to be a parent because I’ve actually put thought into what that means,” one commenter wrote. Another shared, “I do not desire to voluntarily be in a state of overstimulation and constant worry for years.”

Some commenters suggested that parents who insist on convincing others to have kids may do so because misery loves company. Someone else wrote, “They seem to think it’s immature or selfish not to have kids and say, ‘You’ll change your mind when you get older.’ Erm, no, I won’t; every year I get proven why I shouldn’t haha.”

Many viewers praised Jake for thinking carefully about parenthood, with some arguing that people rush into having kids without considering whether they truly want to be parents. “We’ve put more thought into not having kids than most parents did before they had them,” one person wrote. A childfree woman on Reddit has also described being repeatedly questioned about her choice not to have children.

Another commenter wrote, “Having a child is the LAST decision you make for yourself. After that it’s not about you anymore. It’s about them. I think a lot of people don’t think about that.”

“I can barely take care of myself, at this point even if I did want kids, it would be selfish to have kids that I can’t take care of just because I want them (still don’t want them though even if that wasn’t the case),” one TikToker wrote. Overall, commenters largely agreed with Jake and praised him for standing by his decision.

Attack of the Fanboy was unable to independently verify Jake’s account of these interactions, as this originates solely from a TikTok video.