THE FUSE

You’re sitting on the couch with your partner scrolling TikTok, when a video captures your interest. It’s of someone asking their partner to peel an orange for them. You open the comments, and the internet is unleashing their opinions. If your partner says yes to peeling the orange for you without hesitation or question, according to the orange peel theory, they care about you. If they say no, maybe they’re not “the one.” This task, which was once viewed as seemingly insignificant, has now been turned into an emotional Rorschach test — one that everyone seems to have thoughts about.