Question revealed in viral TikTok exposes how people view time

A question proposed in a viral TikTok video has forced millions of people to think differently about how they previously perceived time.

Millions of people have been forced to question their concept of time after being proposed a peculiar theory a woman claimed could reveal telling personality differences.

In a viral TikTok video shared Monday, former Triple J radio host Erica Mallett told viewers they didn’t truly know anyone until they knew their answer to a specific question about time.

“You could have known them for 10 or 15 years, you feel like you know them inside out, but the answer to this question will change everything you think you knew about them,” she claimed.

Her caption warned that she was “not trying to alarm anyone but this question will make you see people differently”.

Ms Mallet, an Australian content creator, said it was how people responded to a request to move a meeting forward by two hours that would reveal how they viewed time.

Erica Mallett proposed a puzzling time question. Picture: TikTok/erica_mallett

She claimed it revealed how people viewed time. Picture: TikTok/erica_mallett

“If I say we have a meeting at midday and then I say, ‘can we move it forward two hours?’, what time is that?” she proposed to her audience.

In a follow-up video, she revealed what people’s answers meant.

“There are two answers people will give: 10am or 2pm. And this is why – it depends how you view time.

She said “if you see yourself moving through time then you’re moving towards 2pm, and you will say 2pm”.

“If you see time moving through you, you will say 10am.

“Every day I spend on this earth, I realise how differently people see the world.”

Her video, viewed more than 20 million times in one day, struck a chord with more than 50,000 respondents, who replied with their unique interpretations of the theory.

Some argued a difference in terminology used in the initial question would determine how many interpreted it.

Viewers had a mixed response to her theory. Picture: TikTok/erica_mallett

One said if the question was about “moving” the meeting forward, the meeting would be at 2pm, as opposed to it being “brought” forward, which would suggest 10am.

Others thought to “move something forward” meant moving it forward “in the scheme of the day” which would indicate the meeting would shift to 2pm.

Almost 45,000 people agreed however that “anyone not saying 10am is just wrong”.

“People saying 2pm actually don’t understand how time works,” another reply read.

Someone else offered a different approach, saying a request to “move it up two hours” would suggest 10am, while a request to “move it forward two hours” would mean 2pm.

Another argued that both “pushing” and “bumping” it forward would suggest 2pm, while “bringing” it forward would mean 10am, and “moving” could “legitimately be either”.

Others joked that meetings were essentially redundant, and most would prefer an email.

“But do we really need to have a meeting or can everything be resolved by an email?” one wrote.