Have you been tying your shoelaces wrong the whole time? Viral TikTok video shows how it should be done

The finished shoelace should lie horizontally across the foot, rather than parallel to your shoe

The method shown in the TikTok video results in neater laces that lie horizontally over the foot, seen on the left. TikTok / attn

Along with riding a bike, reading and writing, tying shoelaces is one of the first things we often remember learning.

Whether you were taught the bunny ears method, the 'loop, swoop and pull' or simply stuck with Velcro for a lot longer than you should have, it's likely you believe you mastered putting on shoes years ago.

However, a new TikTok video might just prove you wrong.

The Attn channel posted a short guide to tying shoelaces three days ago, which has already garnered more than 600,000 views.

The video debunks the most popular method of tying shoes, saying the technique will often result in laces coming undone within 15 minutes.

The Attn clip cites a 2017 study by The Royal Society, which compared two types of bow-tying knot techniques. It found the stronger version was made by creating a square knot from two loops with opposite hands. A 2017 study by UC Berkley also came to the same conclusion: mechanical engineers found that the bunny ear method, in which you create two loops using the same hands that you knot together, creates a weaker union.

"The strong version of the knot is based on a square knot: two lace crossings of opposite handedness on top of each other. The weak version is based on a false knot; the two lace crossings have the same handedness, causing the knot to twist instead of lying flat when tightened," the study states.

The TikTok video puts that theory into an easy-to-understand guide, demonstrating how to cross the left lace over the right, make a loop on the right, place the left loop around that side and pull it through.

The finished shoelace should then lie horizontally across the foot, rather than parallel to your shoe.

The clip sparked a debate in the comments, with the platform's users deliberating the best shoe-tying method.

Some said the bunny-ear method had never failed them, especially if double-knotted.

"Why don't you just double knot the bunny ears? It stays in place and won't come undone," wrote one viewer.

Others said even though they were on the fence about the TikTok method, the finished result was more visually appealing.

"The perpendicular look makes the shoe look cuter than the parallel," commented one user.