So you know when you go buy yourself some new fab earrings and you're like "Thank God they come with that handy plastic back to hold them in place better"? Well turns out, if you've been leaving the plastic on, you have been doing it all wrong. 

Yes, we have all been living a lie, once you purchase earrings the plastic back has to be removed to create the regular tiny earring backs and we're a tad embarrassed that we never figured this out. 

Over the weekend, 19-year-old Chelsea Smith had an epiphany and realised those plastic backings were to be taken off. 

She shared her newfound knowledge with Twitter, resulting in a total meltdown by everyone who has ever made this mistake. 

"After nineteen years of living I have now realized that you are supposed to take the plastic part off" wrote Chelsea.

It turns out she wasn't the only one in shock following her discovery. Her tweet has been retweeted over 40,000 times by people who are equally as mind-blown by this fact and she even tweeted saying "If only I had a dollar for every retweet that tweet got."

However, following this discovery, others are claiming that the backs actually do have a purpose. Some people tweeted to say if you are wearing over-sized earrings, you need the plastic to hold them in place. In fact, the tweet has now started quite a debate online.