About

Yes Mom I'm Fitting In refers to a TikTok trend largely collected under the trending hashtag #ItBeLikeThat, set to the song "Dreams" by Fleetwood Mac.^[1] In the videos, TikTokers act out a sketch where they're on the phone with their mother, telling her they're fitting in in their current situation (often at a university, but sometimes a town, culture, etc.). The video then cuts to the user Googling something they need to fit in with their current culture, showing that they're not fitting in as well as they claim.

Origin

On October 6th, 2020, TikToker lilyhobsonnn^[2] uploaded a video following the described format, opening with the on-screen caption, "yes mom im totally fitting in at tcu!!!!!!" (shown below). The video is set to Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams" as an original sound by lilyhobsonnn, as the song is no longer available on TikTok. Her video garnered over 661 thousand views and 47 thousand likes in 1 week.

Spread

Shortly after lilyhobsonnn's video others began copying the trend, attaching it to her original sound. On October 7th, TikToker ajgru^[3] uploaded a version of the trend, giving over 284 thousand views in 6 days (shown below, left). On the same day, TikToker m_spankey^[4] uploaded a version of the trend referencing Harvard, garnering over 324 thousand views in the same span of time (shown below, right).

As the trend continued to spread, TikTokers started applying the format to settings beyond colleges and universities. On October 11th, TikToker atikhunk^[5] uploaded a version of the trend where he shows how he's "fitting in" on TikTok (shown below, left). The video garnered over 53 thousand views in 2 days. On the same day, TikToker alyssaboissineau^[6] uploaded a version of the trend featuring Australia in place of a university, garnering over 26 thousand views in 2 days (shown below, right).

On October 13th, the hashtag #ItBeLikeThat, containing videos following this and other formats, was trending on TikTok with over 2.4 billion views attributed to videos under it. On the same day, JUNKEE reported on the trend.^[7]

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References