A quiz I helped designed for an old job. That was the fun old times.
I love quizzes. I can’t get enough of them. If I could, I would spend all day taking all sorts of quizzes. Once I start, I cannot stop. It’s such an addiction. Worst is when I find a quiz I like while at work, and find myself spending my entire lunch break taking quizzes. (Where was that sandwich I bought? Hmmm…)
I started to really ask myself why I love taking them and asking my friends to take quizzes with me. I love hearing their answers and seeing what they get or don’t get. I love sharing what I got as well.
One, quizzes are a sort of “reality check” device. Is this world really real (the test said I belonged in outer space)? Am I really crazy (because that test just said I am!)?
I’m a true believer that each of us know who we are. Deep down, we know what type of person we are and what we are capable of. My mother has always told me, denial is a good comfort for a truth that hurts but when denial runs out of steam, you’ll still end up facing the truth. But most of us aren’t that strong to face some form of truth. We mask our lives with “busy”, fatigue, and drama. Who has time or energy to listen to themselves? So a quiz comes handy to telling us about ourselves. Like OMG, my spirit animal is a sloth because I’m cool as a cucumber. Reality check: I couldn’t live without stress. I must have answered something wrong. The thing is, we find our lives surrounded by vagueness. We want instant answers. We want instant knowledge. It’s a scary world out there and when there’s a machine to tell us what we should be or think or see, sometimes, it’s just easier to accept what it tells us. Or it’s just to get a good kick out of it.
Having worked on some quizzes at one of my old jobs, a lot of time, there’s no real algorithm of how you score. It’s just that they needed unique visitor hits.
Two, quizzes are ego boosters. Seriously, that quiz just told me that my beauty score is like 90% and that quiz said I knew 10 out 12 car logos in the world! Who doesn’t want to have their back patted and their ego stroked? It’s a form of self confidence, it exercises your brain cell by recalling random memories and facts, and it takes us out of my habitual life of riding the train to work, plugging some inputs at the office, and eating/drinking/working out, etc. It’s gratification without much effort. Sure, some quizzes require some man power, like, where is Turkmenistan on the map? But we’re not being judged by it like our SAT or GMAT score. It’s just a fun pastime.
And lastly, some quizzes offer money. Hey, instant gratification is better than working. Who wouldn’t want to win that trip to Paris by answering 3 questions about their knowledge of Europe? People go on Jeopardy to answer questions and win millions of dollars. Why not get a few bucks online?
We, human, seem to feed off knowing and learning and being curious. Even as a baby and a child, you’re always asking, why is the sky blue? Why does it do that? Why does it do this? Quizzes help us to assemble the answers to all the questions we desire to be fulfilled but can’t. Quizzes answer some unique and unknown thing about ourselves (I highly doubt it). Quizzes makes the scary abstract world out there have some sort concrete substance. Quizzes help us to use our brain, take them for a spin, and really just take them out of the rut of a daily life.
So to end this blog, how about a taking a few quizzes to pass the rest of the work week?
What Type of Book Are You? I got Library Book
Which “Star Trek: The Next Generation” Character Are You? I got Wesley Crusher
What Actress Would Play You In The Movie Version Of Your Life? Emma Watson! YEAH!
Which Romantic Comedy Best Describes Your Actual Love Life? Notting Hill
Which Literary Couple Are You And Your Significant Other? Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark from “Hunger Games”
Well, you get the gist. Some other sites for quizzes to check out.
BuzzFeed – The thing that’s always popping up on my Facebook feed…taking me away from doing my work
Sporcle – This is an amazing site.
The Oatmeal – Hilarious! This is a must-follow type of site.
Quizilla – I went here a lot as a college kid.