Why The Buzz Around This Earring Hack Is Legitimately Confusing Us

File this under the random things the internet is losing its shit over: A 19-year-old named Chelsea Smith tweeted a photo on Saturday of those cheap earring backs, encircled in disks of clear plastic, with the metal backing removed from the plastic, captioned: “After my nineteen years of living i have now realized that you are supposed to take the plastic part off.” The Twittersphere was divided in terms of reaction: Some thought Smith’s revelation was a brilliant hack, while others jumped in to disagree, claiming the plastic prevents larger earrings from pulling down on earlobes: “NO!!! The plastic piece helps distribute weight on heavy earrings and makes it more comfortable. Promise!” wrote @Joannesmoot. Meanwhile, @jenna_valentine brought up a new potential body insecurity we’d never thought of before: saggy earlobes. And here you thought your ears were safe from shame. If it seems to you a pretty trivial matter to get riled up over — well, same. Some of us in the Refinery29 offices knew the backing could be removed, and some of us didn't, but no one's earring habits have changed all that much since the tweet went viral. But to be fair, it's not like we all haven't had those moments where we feel like we've come across something truly new and profound, and everyone else was like, "You didn't know already?" (Two words: shoe wine.) And some of you legitimately might have derived some service from Smith's discovery, especially those of you whose smaller earlobes never adequately hid the plastic backs. For you: Girl, congrats — now you've got options.