"A story that starts with “You’re never going to believe what happened” is my kryptonite. It grabs my attention, locks me in, and has me addicted to the chaotic details. And when the storyline involves something going very wrong just to end up going very right, I feel like I got a front row ticket to the best movie in the theatre. (Listen, I love a little drama, and I’m not afraid to admit it.) So, as you can imagine, when the “butterfly effect” started going viral on TikTok, I could not control my screentime. Chaotic stories were inundating my FYP, which was enough to spark my interest, but it was the discourse in the comments that really made me stay up past my bedtime.
If you’ve found yourself panic-googling “cheap Mother’s Day gifts” at the eleventh hour, CVS has a lineup of under-$25 gifts that are thoughtful, cute, and look way more expensive than they actually are.
Now, we know that when trends start to emerge, people tend to lose the plot, and that’s exactly what’s been happening with the “butterfly effect.” Search the hashtag and you’ll find that most of the videos don’t actually exemplify the butterfly effect at all. And the rest? Well, they are videos of people complaining about other people getting it wrong. Case in point: TikToker Carmen Vitali titled her video “PSA: The Butterfly Effect is fluttering over people’s heads,” with the hashtag #geteducated.
Before we get too deep, let me explain what the butterfly effect actually is. Stemming from the idea that a butterfly flapping its wings in one place could potentially trigger a tornado on the other side of the world, the concept highlights “how a tiny change in the initial stages of a system can cause huge, non-linear consequences elsewhere over time.” Vitali gives the example of deciding to take a different way to work one day, rear-ending someone, and then marrying that person. The small, seemingly insignificant change resulted in a huge impact. Saying something like “The Butterfly Effect is crazy because what if I didn’t go on that Hinge date,” as Vitali explains, is not the Butterfly Effect, and neither is “The Butterfly Effect is crazy because what if we never met.”
A large majority of the 130k videos posted under the hashtag describe how users met their now-partner or best friend, claiming that it was a cause of the concept. And while Vitali is right, most everyone is wrong about how the butterfly effect actually works in theory, I couldn’t help but ask myself: Have we gone a little overboard with the theories? Can’t a good story just be a good story? I’m a firm believer that everything happens the way it’s supposed to, but I also believe that we don’t always need an explanation for it.
“TikTok shells out new theories faster than we can make sense of them, so it’s no wonder that no one knows what they’re talking about.”
The whole reason this concept is going viral is not because it’s groundbreaking or new (there is literally a movie called The Butterfly Effect that stars Ashton Kutcher from 2004). It’s going viral because people can’t stop fighting about it in comment sections. Users are saying things like “that’s the invisible string theory” or, my personal favorite, “that’s the burnt toast theory.” To which I say, the what? TikTok shells out new theories faster than we can make sense of them, so it’s no wonder that no one knows what they’re talking about.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I love that thousands of people have a great story about how they met their partner, or how they ended up at the perfect job, or how they found the best apartment in the city. But in an exhausting turn of events, what started as a cute trend has turned into a game of who’s right and who’s wrong. Happy stories are getting ripped apart by a bunch of one-uppers, commenting things like “that’s NOT the butterfly effect, but my story is…” It’s important to consider that we don’t know everyone’s full story, and we definitely can’t understand it in a 15-second clip. Their story may be somewhat of a butterfly effect, but it’s also completely possible that it’s not. And when that’s the case, do we really need to fight about it?
TikToker Kat Marie Samson, who drew haters on her video, is deflecting in the best way possible: In response to a “that’s not the butterfly effect” comment, she replied, “It’s my butterfly effect.” Who’s going to argue with that? The way I see it, if you’re happy, I couldn’t care less what “theory” you think is responsible for it. I don’t necessarily think you need one, but as long as you’re not using a theory to wrongly justify your actions or overexplain your journey to someone, it makes no difference to me. (And it shouldn’t to you either).
So, whether you believe that every decision has a calculated consequence or you believe that there is a higher power that has a plan for your life, whether it be faith or the universe, that’s your prerogative! Sure, there is a chance that reality, science, fate, and pure luck can overlap, but it’s also worth considering that sometimes it’s just not that serious. You can tell your story and believe it played out however you want to, even if you have zero clue what TikTok’s new favorite theory means.
Hailey Bouche, Associate Editor
As an Associate Editor for The Everygirl, Hailey Bouche oversees, writes, and edits content across various categories on the site. From the pitching stage through publishing, she works alongside the team to ensure that the content that our readers see every day is inspiring, relatable, and timely.