“Girl Math” trend on TikTok: Funny or dangerous?

• “Girl Math” refers to justifying and glossing over financial expenses.
• This streamlines impulse purchases.
• The trend can give young people in particular a false impression of how to handle money.

Who does not know it? You want to treat yourself to something, but your wallet is almost empty. So you tell yourself that you haven’t bought anything in a long time or that you won’t be able to buy anything in the near future. These justifications and sugar-coating when dealing with money have become a trend on TikTok and are called “Girl Math”.

There’s a certain irony to these “Girl Math” videos, but it’s not always clear. You can see an example of “Girl Math” here:

That’s why the trend is not entirely harmless

The TikTok trend makes use of the cliché that women in particular do not have themselves under control and often tend to make impulse purchases. Excuses are made up or calculations are used (if you can call it that) to justify yourself. For example, a 1,000 euro handbag that you use for 20 years and therefore only pays 50 euros for it per year.

Although the calculations sound nice at first glance, they do not correspond to reality and lead you to rationalize financial expenses and give in to your impulses, explains psychologist and financial expert Brad Klontz in an interview with CNBC.

The whole thing is not unproblematic, because this distorted depiction on TikTok trivializes this topic and can give young people in particular a false image of how to deal with money. But the deodorant challenge on TikTok is even more dangerous and has already claimed lives.