Is the meeting at 10am or 2pm? TikTok is divided over the answer to this simple question

No question has truly divided the internet since the “8÷2(2+2)” equation took over Twitter in 2019. But now a new problem has cropped up on TikTok and honestly it’s even more divisive than the equation. The question is seemingly simple and yet I’ve literally stopped talking to the people who don’t have the same answer as me.

So what is this relationship ending question taking over TikTok? This is it: “If I say we have a meeting at midday and then I say can we move it forward two hours, what time is that?”

There’s two potential answers – 10am or 2pm.

The question was originally posted on TikTok yesterday by presenter and musician Erica Mallett. In the TikTok she says asking the people in your life this question will seriously change how you see them and she’s not wrong.

She said: “You don’t truly know someone until you’ve asked them this question, you could have known them for 10/15 years , you feel like you know them inside out but the answer to this question will change everything you think you knew about them.

“Here’s the question: If I say we have a meeting at midday and then I say can we move it forward two hours, what time is that?”

The TikTok has been viewed more than 17 million times and has over 40,000 comments with people debating the answer. Just like the blue and gold dress from years ago, people are staying firm with their answer.

So what is the right answer? We conducted a poll on our Instagram to find out:

68 per cent of people think it’s 10am

A lot of people are firmly in the belief the answer to the question is 10am as they believe “moving it forward” implies it’s earlier in the day as you’re bringing it closer to your time in the present, hence why it is 10am.

32 per cent of people think it’s 2pm

However a significant percentage do think it’s 2pm as they see moving forward as going later in the day because the clock goes forward so you’re going towards 2pm.

Others think the whole question is ambiguous

A small minority however think it can be either answer because the question is purposely designed to be ambiguous through the use of the word “move”.

Move has no set direction so you could view the meeting time as either 10am or 2pm. However the words “push” and “bring” have clear set direction and these are what we usually use to discuss meeting times.

“Push” is something going further away from you and therefore later in the day, whereas “bring” is pulling something closer to you and therefore earlier in the day.

So it can actually be both, depending on how you view time

The original poster of the TikTok Erica Mallett offered her own explanation for why people have different answers and it’s all to do with how you view time.

She said: “It depends how you view time. If you see yourself as moving through time then you’re moving towards 2pm, and so you will say 2pm.

“But if you see time as moving through you, you will say 10am.”

So there you have it, we’re all kinda right?

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