Sociotechnical Scale| “Cute” or “Completely Unhinged?” Making Sense of Pregnancy App Size Comparisons

Abstract

Pregnancy apps offer size comparison features that mobilize metaphor and measurement to help conceptualize prenatal growth and development. This essay offers a theoretical account of how these scalar mechanisms mediate reproductive knowledge, drawing on a thematic analysis of Reddit threads. It argues that while app users critique these mechanisms as “nonsense,” they also rely on them to “make sense” of normative expectations surrounding pregnancy, tied to themes of scientific authority, the self, and affective experience. This study contributes to an emerging literature on the qualitative dimensions of user experiences with pregnancy apps.