What Is The 'Young Indian Method?' The Controversial 'Hustle Culture' TikTok Trend And Meme Explained

So-called "hustle culture" has been an online phenomenon ever since businessmen and entrepreneurs joined social media. Recently, on TikTok, there's been a new "money glitch" that these influencers won't stop yammering about. It's called the Young Indian Method.

The "method" (of course) involves young people from the country of India, however, the means to which these "young Indians" are being used is seemingly controversial and flirts with sheer exploitation. With all this in mind, the promotion of the Young Indian Method might all be ironic and far from earnest.

Discourse surrounding the topic and whether or not its satirical has been floating around the internet over the past week. Let's explain what's really going on.

What Is The 'Young Indian Method?'

The basis of the Young Indian Method is hiring young laborers from India to work remotely for one's company. Due to differing exchange rates, a foreign employer could hypothetically pay an Indian employee less money for their work, therefore making the employer richer in comparison to ones that hire more expensive American and European employees.

The phrase "Young Indian Method" is therefore a catchy way of saying, "the exploitation of Indian labor in the name of making as much money as possible."

Who Started The 'Young Indian Method?'

The phrase "Young Indian Method" was coined by a TikToker and YouTuber named EnardEcom who originally went viral on TikTok in July. Despite his TikTok channel having recently been deleted, his YouTube channel is still up and it was posting videos about the method during the same timeframe.

Is The 'Young Indian Method' Ironic?

It's hard to definitively say if content about the Young Indian Method is fully ironic or fully earnest, mostly because the usage of third-world labor for first-world businesses is a totally real phenomenon. In fact, entrepreneurial influencers with large followings, such as YouTuber Iman Gadzhi, have promoted the use of third-world labor in videos before, blurring the line of sincerity around the subject.

It's true, however, that memes making fun of hustle culture have been prevalent ever since people like Gary Vee started to gain cult followings. The Young Indian Method might be following in the footsteps of other satirical "methods" like investing in the Rare Fish Market. In comparison, the Young Indian Method actually highlights and criticizes a troubling symptom of Late Capitalism rather than a nonsensical amount of uncles or Mongolian fishing boots.

For the full history of the Young Indian Method, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.