Essays on why we take quizzes
Longform on internet culture, identity, and the strange science of sorting ourselves.
Every essay, sorted.
How BuzzFeed quizzes accidentally invented Gen Z identity
BuzzFeed quizzes peaked around 2015. Their cultural impact peaked around 2023. The lag explains a lot.
Percy Jackson and the cabin-sorting internet industrial complex
Six books, one Disney adaptation, and 14 years later — the Camp Half-Blood cabin sorting quiz is more culturally alive than the source material.
Attachment styles were never meant to be a vibe check
Attachment theory has real research behind it. Its TikTok version mostly doesn't. Here's the gap.
The unfaxable history of the omegaverse
How a Supernatural kink trope from LiveJournal 2010 became mainstream enough to hit the New York Times bestseller list.
Why everyone is suddenly taking a color analysis quiz
In the last year, color analysis — a 1980s fashion theory about warm vs cool undertones — has become a TikTok-driven obsession. Why now?
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