There’s been a lot of online discussion about eating oranges lately, and it has nothing to do with boosting vitamin C levels. Rather, millions of videos have surfaced of people asking their partners to peel an orange for them, testing the “orange peel theory” of relationships that’s racked up millions of views on TikTok. The test is about gauging how attuned a partner is to your needs. It goes like this: Ask them to peel an orange for you. If they do, this signals an overall willingness to assist you with small tasks. If the orange remains unpeeled, however, they’ll be less likely to support you as the relationship continues.

Yes, we rolled our eyes, too. Hard. And we wish we had a camera that captured our faces when we read about couples who have broken up over this. Here’s the thing: The core of the idea — that small, cumulative gestures play a significant part in the success of our relationships — arguably has its base in clinically respected circles of thought. But the orange peel test itself, with its binary, pass-fail worldview isn’t a proper measure of a relationship. It does, however, say something interesting about relationships that’s worth remembering.