What is the 'Burnt Toast' theory being discussed on TikTok?

Sleeping in late for work, or missing the bus or plane you needed to catch might sound like an annoying inconvenience, but not for those who believe in the burnt toast theory.

This concept has been widely discussed on TikTok (much like the orange peel theory and the invisible string theory) and it's all about when things don't go plan in the short term, but it ultimately results in a better outcome in the long term.

“Burnt toast theory is the idea that if you burn your toast before work and it adds 5 to 10 minutes to your trip, it’s actually saving you from something catastrophic," TikToker Faye (@offthe__grid) explained in a viral video with more than 1.2m views.

“Maybe saving you from a car accident, maybe saving me from someone who you don’t want to run into. But this is the idea that inconveniences in our lives, or when something releases us in the universe, it’s either saving us from something more detrimental or pushing us in the direction that we need to go in."

It can help us think more positively and cope with life's challenges, and also see it has life pushing us in the right direction.

This video prompted people to flock to the comments to share their thoughts on the theory, and some even gave some examples of when they believe the burnt toast theory happened to them.

One person said: "This is why I don’t trip when I’m running late."

"I’ve finally accepted that inconveniences really work in our favor," another person wrote.

A third person added: "Our car broke down once on a trip and we had to come home, good thing we did we caught a fire at home before it started."

"I overslept a few days ago. A few hours later I read in the news, that on the bridge I would usually drive to work a huge car accident happened," a fourth person commented.

But it's not just on TikTok where this concept is brought up, as other medias have explored this idea - one example that was mentioned in TikTok comments was the 1998 film Sliding Doors starring Gwyneth Paltrow as Helen who is fired from her job but misses her train home.

The film Sliding Doors shows Helen (Gwyneth Paltrow) the two different chain of events that happens depending on whether she misses her train (left) or manages to catch her train (right)Paramount Pictures

However, in a parallel universe she catches the train and this triggers a completely different turn of events to occur.

Meanwhile, the theory was discussed earlier this month after a cabin panel got ripped off an Boeing 737 Max 9 midair, which required an emergency landing for the Alaska Airlines flight, several passengers were injured but were later cleared by medical professionals.

Seven out of the 171 seats on board were available, and this included two seats right next to where the door plug was.

The chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, Jennifer Homendy, commented on how fortunate there wasn't anyone sitting in those seats.

"We are very, very fortunate here that this didn’t end up in something more tragic," the chair said. "No one was seated in 26A and 26B where that door plug is.”

A post on X about how this scenario was the "perfect example of burnt toast theory" went viral with 71.5m views and 491,000 likes.

“Our human instinct is to seek meaning by crafting chaos into cohesion," psychologist Cameron Williams told Refinery29, which makes sense as it would be hard to comprehend for someone whose day didn't go to plan but later finding out something disastrous would have occurred if it did.

While psychologist Lisette Sanchez told Huff Post that the theory could simply be hindsight bias where "a past event was more predictable than it actually was, leading us to feel reassured that we did know what was going to happen when an unanticipated event occurred."

Either way, next time you miss a train it might make you feel better to think about the burnt toast theory.

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