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There’s a trend circulating on the social media platform TikTok called “Girl Math.” However, it’s not really about math.
This is what’s behind the Girl Math trend
TikTok is known and infamous for its numerous challenges. Often, these have to do with dances or challenges that you have to face. The Girl Math trend is about something different.
- These are justifications of financial expenses. These are glossed over by the video makers by claiming, for example, that they haven’t treated themselves to anything in a while or that they promise to live more frugally in the future because of this exception. Considerations are also put forward that make the actual expense look less, for example by pointing to the longer useful life of an item.
- Tending to make impulse purchases of things they don’t actually need, these individuals rationalize the purchases by justifying them.
- This then involves, for example, calculating what a bargain you got for something you really shouldn’t have or didn’t need to buy.
- Many operate Girl Math in an ironic way, but that is not always apparent.
- This trend is especially problematic for young people, as it gives them a bad image about how to handle money.
The dangers of the TikTok trend
Girl Math ensures that excuses are made and strange “calculation methods” are used to justify impulse purchases in particular. However, this glossing over distorts reality and leads to rash financial decisions.
- The trend serves the stereotype that women in particular tend to make impulse purchases and come up with strange justifications to justify them.
- This distorted portrayal on TikTok can cause younger followers in particular to gloss over their own financial decisions and subsequently give in to their impulses to buy more quickly themselves.
- The Girl Math trend can therefore lead to important financial questions being trivialized via TikTok and young people getting the wrong idea about how to handle money.
