Explained: What is the invisible string theory on TikTok and where did it come from?

If your TikTok FYP is anything like mine, you’ll have been absolutely inundated with people talking about the invisible string theory when it comes to their relationships and it’s probably making you feel more single than ever.

But if you haven’t seen it, basically people on TikTok are sharing their incidents of the invisible string theory with their partners, of how they met them years before they actually got together and how an invisible string has tied them together before they even knew they were soulmates.

The theory has been around for a while but is having a huge resurgence on TikTok at the minute with the hashtag #invisiblestringtheory reaching over 15 million views. Most of the videos are also soundtracked to Taylor Swift. Taylor’s eighth studio album folklore features a song called Invisible String where she talks all about this concept. The song features lyrics: “Isn’t it just so pretty to think all along there was some invisible string tying you to me?”

But what actually is the invisible string theory and how does it work?

The invisible string theory is basically the idea that the universe always connects people who are destined to meet one day. It is said that there is an invisible string connecting the two people until the universe decides it’s the right time for you to meet.

You might have been at the same concert four years before you met and fell in love or maybe you went to the same school and never spoke but end up being in the same city as adults and bump into each other at a pub. Whatever the situation, the theory is that the universe is full of invisible strings that work to connect people at the right time in their lives.

For example, one TikTok explains how her grandad was her fiancee’s parent’s teacher in school and how her dad was her fiancee’s dentist since he was 12, years before they met.

Another example is of a girl whose now boyfriend appeared in the backgrounds of her pictures at an event they both attended years before they actually met. These two have now been together for over two years.

Where did the invisible string theory come from?

So, the invisible string theory actually originated from East Asian folklore’s red thread theory of fate. The belief in Chinese mythology is that there is an invisible red cord tied around the little fingers of those who are destined to meet one another in a specific situation as they are their “one true love”. This string might stretch or tangle but it will never break. The string is red because it symbolises happiness in Chinese culture and is primarily featured in Chinese weddings.

If the invisible string theory is true, I’m going to need my string to take off its invisibility cloak right now so I can follow it because I am FED UP of watching these TikToks seething with jealousy.

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