SINGAPORE: When a young Asian woman recorded a video of her parents accompanying her on a practice commute to her new job and posted it on TikTok last month, she received over 6 million views but also divided the internet.
“POV: you’re a 27-year-old teenage girl starting a new job next week and your parents insist on practising your new commute with you,” wrote Stizz Chung (@stizzchung) in the caption of her video.
@stizzchung “On thursday we will practice going downtown.” -mom #seattle #workcommute #dayinthelife #grwm
The 21-second clip shows a bemused Ms Chung on the train and walking around Seattle with her parents.
Many commenters found the clip to be heartwarming. They praised the family for being close-knit and also for Ms Chung’s parents for making sure she knew how to get to her workplace safely.
However, while her caption was, quite obviously, tongue-in-cheek, some appeared to take it seriously, especially a British-Canadian writer and podcaster, Hannah Berrelli. She shared Ms Chung’s video on X (formerly Twitter) and commented, “There is something seriously wrong with this generation. Infantilised and proud of it.”
There is something seriously wrong with this generation. Infantilised and proud of it. pic.twitter.com/koLDdcbzcM
— Hannah Berrelli (@HannahBerrelli) September 11, 2023
Moreover, she added, “Bring back shame,” in a comment to her original tweet.
X users were divided between defending Ms Chung and her family and agreeing with Ms Berrelli that the young woman was too old for her parents to escort her.
“Nothing wrong with this, she has loving parents,” wrote a netizen.
“I’d do this with my sons if they wanted me to. Ain’t a damn thing wrong with this,” agreed another.
One commenter pointed out that it would give her parents a stronger sense of safety. “Not only is it sweet it also gives the parents an idea of where she’s going everyday and now they can easily reference to what they know should something ever happen to her. Like if she were to go missing, ‘Well she usually goes this way.’”
“I think the issue is more that parents should teach their kid how to independently operate the subway system in their city *BEFORE* turning 27,” opined another.
“’27 yo teenage girl’ which doesn’t exist because it can’t. Being a teenager ends at 18, when adulthood begins. If we want to play semantic games, it can end at nineTEEN,… but 27?! If I was the employer I would really reconsider hiring this ‘teenager’,” one wrote.
To clear up misconceptions, however, Ms Chung explained the situation in a follow-up on TikTok.
As it turns out, it was she who was teaching her parents a thing or two instead of the other way around.
“My parents asked to accompany me on my new commute because they haven’t explored Seattle very much and wanted to check it out. I showed them how to buy a ticket and take the link, then we walked to lunch together right after…
My parents are immigrants and I was simply showing them around the new office as they are so proud I landed a big time job.” /TISG