Who Are You Exactly? Just Take a Quiz and Find Out.

Oscar-nominated actor Jude Law stops by Sesame Street to visit his friends. Photo by Richard Termine for Season 41. Which Muppet are you?

There’s a new wave sweeping social media.  Take a few moments, take one of a gazillion possible quizzes and you’ll answer that all-important existential question.  Who am I?

Sort of.

For instance, this month I discovered that I am Snuffleupagus from Sesame Street, Amy Farrah Fowler from The Big Bang Theory, Bones from Star Trek, Lady Sybil from Downton Abbey, Fanny Price from Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park and either Luna Lovegood or Albus Dumbledore from Harry Potter–that quiz needs work.  I am more like the Rolling Stones than other rock bands, and I would be happiest living in Wyoming–although another quiz insisted that judging from the way I express myself, I’m really all-Mississippi at heart.

How about you?  Psychotherapy should be so easy.

Do you wonder why quizzes like these are so popular?  We’re grown-ups, right?  Shouldn’t we already know who we are?  Maybe it’s a testament to our need to grow and change that we find them so interesting.  How can we move forward if we haven’t figured out where we are right now?  Or, even more likely, how can we figure out who we are (answer: incredibly complex human being) if we can’t condense ourselves into something easy, something straight from pop culture that helps other people figure out who we are, as well.  We love lists.  We love simplicity.

Sharing results is a fun way to talk about ourselves without boasting or sounding self-absorbed.  Witness the third paragraph of this blog. I mean, if we admit we’re an elephantine but charmingly shy Sesame Street character, nobody’s going to roll his eyes and avoid us at parties.  If he or she’s taken the quiz maybe he’ll explain that’s why he’s standing next to the table eating all the chocolate chip cookies or why she’s wishing she could escape into the nearest trash can. Conversation starter anyone?

In the end, though, I think we’re always searching for data to help us understand who we are, where we come from and most important, where we’re going.  Knowing we’re more like Bugs Bunny than Porky Pig might be a clue.  Or it might not be.  As silly as the quizzes are, the answers and more important, how we feel about them, might spark a moment of insight.  And if not?  We probably had fun.

To help you on your journey, try Buzzfeed or Zimbio.  You may or may not be glad you did.  And whether you are or not?  That might be a clue to your personality in itself.

Look for “Which Goddess Are You?”coming to this blog in the future.  Don’t look right away, though.  I’m still working on the questions, and that probably says I’m more Charlotte than I thought.  Can you guess who you will be?

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