It’s simple maths, not a once in a 1000 year phenomenon

(Photo: Pixabay)

[Last updated 10 May 2020]

In 2017 year a Facebook post was going around saying:

Today, if you add your age + the year you were born you will get 2017.

This only happens once every 1000 years!

It happened again in 2018 but, for some reason, some of the posts added “We are all 2018 today”.

or happy birthday.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO EVERYONE TODAY!!!! You age plus year of birth equals 2018!!!

And it is happening again in 2019. (I can tell because the views for this post are going up!)

All the people in the world are of the same age this year!
It’s amazing: this year all the people in the world are all in the same age group, all equal to 2019. This year is special. It happens only once every 1,000 years. This year your age + your year of birth, each individual is = 2019. For example, you are 55 years old and you were born in 1964, which adds up to 2019. Very strange, even the Chinese and foreign masters can not explain. Please calculate and see if the answer is 2019. It’s a thousand-year wait! Good shot! Go to the circle of friends, let everybody calculate it!

And what do you know? It’s 2020, the stats for this post are going up again and similar posts are circulating for 2020. And this year, some people are putting it down to a miracle!

Miraculous we all the same age today add ur age with your date of birth n it will come to 2020

Happy B’day to all.
Today the whole world is the same Age!
Today is a Special day. There’s only 1 chance every 1,000 Years.

Your Age + Your Year of Birth, every person is = 2020

Even experts can’t explain it! You figure it out & see if it’s 2020
It’s 1000-year wait!

Beside that fact that the statement is wrong for anybody who hasn’t had their birthday yet this year, the idea that it only happens once every 1000 years is silly.

By definition, if you add the number of years you’ve lived to the year you were born, you will get the current year.

It’s actually the case on 31 December every year. It also works for anybody on any day of the year after their birthday.  I guess you could say that 31 December this year will be the only day EVER when everybody in the world will get 2019 if they add their age plus year of birth. (And next year, 31 December will be the only day EVER when everybody in the world will get 2020 if they add their age plus year of birth.)

The main lesson from this is how easily things circulate on Facebook and how fake news can spread quickly!

Its very easy to read something like this, try it, see that it works, and decide to share it. Or there is a post that reinforces a message we like, so we don’t check it out too closely and pass it on.

A statement like the one being shared at the moment doesn’t matter—it makes no difference to anyone (except maybe maths teachers). Unfortunately there are also many examples where people share misinformation about important issues.

Of course I worry most about the misinformation circulated by people I disagree with (e.g., people who want to prevent action on climate change or marriage equality) but I also recognise that people who support things I’m passionate about, do the same thing.

Advocates for social change, have a responsibility to act with integrity, and to base their arguments on the best available evidence.

At least it isn’t a scam. As I was about to post this Cathy got a text message saying she had won GBP 1,750,000 from Coke!

But there is a link. Posts like this one about our birthdays, or ones that say only 1 in 20 people get the right answer, are often click bait trying to get people to click on a link to drive people to their webpage.

Please don’t support them!

But I did like this variation I saw recently (in 2020):

just saw this on Tiktok..
does it work for you too? It did for me…
your shoe size + 00 on the end
minus your year of birth
add this year 2020
look at the result – are the last 2 digits your age?

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