About

Reading Rainbow Space Math, also known as the Reading Rainbow TikTok Trend, refers to a trend on TikTok in which creators use the theme song from the educational children's TV series Reading Rainbow as a sound and use a filter that shows their face and math equations floating around the sun to pair with captions relaying complex scenarios and memories that they have trouble performing or contemplating. Oftentimes, the scenarios are ironically simple despite them having trouble comprehending them. The trend started in early 2022 and carried on into that year.

Origin

On March 11th, 2022, TikToker^[1] homewithshelby posted a video in which she used a filter called "Space" created by nickynewb and the theme song for the TV show Reading Rainbow. She overlayed text that read, "When someone is trying to explain the board game rules to me," having her reaction be her own blank face floating around the sun with math equations also floating by. The video received roughly 3.5 million plays and 668,500 likes over the course of four days (shown below).

Spread

The day after her TikTok went viral, on March 12th, 2022, multiple TikTokers posted their own versions using the same filter and the Reading Rainbow theme song. For instance, TikToker^[2] lorientskin posted a version that showed confusion about a memory of hers. She stated that one time a patient of hers came in to ask about "a lump" on her vagina which turned out to be her clitoris. The TikTok received roughly 3.1 million plays and 643,500 likes over the course of three days (shown below, left). Another example was posted on the 12th by TikToker^[3] oliviaprewitt15, whose video relayed confusion about the mapping of flight coordinates, deeming it impossible for a human brain. The TikTok received roughly 2.2 million plays and 475,000 likes over the course of three days (shown below, right).

The video format continued to be remixed going into the remainder of March 2022. As of March 15th, 2022, the sound^[4] has roughly 155,300 videos using it with the majority of them falling within this trend.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References