DINKs love showing off their lavish, child-free lifestyles, and they don't care if it makes people like Elon Musk mad

• Couples who live on double incomes with no kids are sharing the perks of the lifestyle online.
• The videos consistently receive backlash as some suggest they're selfish.

On December 4, John Eringman, a 28-year-old personal finance content creator, posted a TikTok video bragging about his lifestyle with the caption, "In our DINK era."

The term stands for "double income no kids" and has been around since the 1980s at least, although it's recently seen a surge of attention on TikTok.

In his upload, Eringman, who has 1.3 million followers, could be seen with his partner Paige, as they took turns listing the benefits of being a DINK. They explained they were able to go on multiple vacations, caught up on eight hours of sleep a night, and could indulge in "snobby hobbies like skiing and golfing."

The upload blew up with 2.2 million views and over 3,100 comments. The response is emblematic of the polarizing nature of how DINKs are perceived — many viewers saw it as aspirational and praised the couple, while others accused them of being selfish and criticized their decision to not have kids, saying they'll regret it.

The backlash reached new heights later that day, when a user who goes by @KnoxEndemic re-shared the video to X, formerly Twitter, and described the couple as "genetic dead ends."

The post blew up, receiving 10 million views and thousands of responses. Many were strongly worded criticisms of the pair.

Even Elon Musk got involved, posting in response to a reupload of the video by another account.

"There is an awful morality to those who deliberately have no kids: they are effectively demanding that other people's kids take care of them in their old age. That's messed up," he wrote. (Musk has 10 known children with three different women.)

Eringman told Business Insider in an email exchange that the couple did not expect this kind of response. They're not even sure whether they want children, and might do so in the future, which makes the backlash against them even more shocking.

"There is a very clear divide between people for DINKs and against DINKs which creates a lot of controversy. We think this divide comes from the fact that the DINK lifestyle tends to challenge the traditional norms of society," Eringman said.

Ultimately, they just want to enjoy this phase in their lives, Eringman told BI, adding that he thinks people should be able to "do what makes them happy" when it comes to choosing whether to have children or not.

Backlash against DINKs is nothing new, but they're not staying quiet

It's become something of a trend for child-free couples post videos about the perks of the time and money they have thanks to not being parents, pointing to the generous gifts they're able to buy and their freedom to make last-minute plans.

Viewers have consistently chimed in with their judgments on the lifestyle.

In December 2022, TikToker Ness Baker went mega-viral with 10.4 million views when she shared she was a DINKWAD (double income, no kids, with a dog). A popular comment seen by BI at the time read, "Good luck dying alone at 60-70 with no kids or grandkids to take care of you."

But this public pushback hasn't stopped the DINKs from posting. In recent weeks, many more have continued to share their lives online.

The criticism doesn't seem likely to deter people away from the lifestyle either. The number of DINKs in the US has been on the rise, and a Pew survey found that in 2021, 44% of people aged 18 to 49 who didn't have kids were not likely to do so; in 2018, the number was 37%.

With a median net worth of $250,600, it shouldn't be a surprise that they're so thrilled to discuss their child-free lives. The Federal Reserve's Survey of Consumer Finances found that to be more than all the other family structures they researched.

As for Eringman, the criticism hasn't impacted his perception of his lifestyle.

"We are enjoying every bit of this DINK community," he said.