The Cosmo Quiz Never Dies
Still circling B after all these years
I was fourteen years old, sitting cross-legged on my best friend’s bedroom floor, flipping through a Cosmo magazine we definitely weren’t supposed to have. We’d already skipped past the articles we didn’t understand and landed on the good stuff: a quiz called something like “Is He Really Into You?” or “What’s Your Ideal First Date?”
We took it so seriously. Like, pencil in hand, reading each question out loud, debating whether “sometimes” was closer to A or C. The results told us things about ourselves we desperately wanted to know. Or at least, things we wanted someone else to confirm.
I was convinced those quizzes held actual wisdom. They did, sometimes, make you think about who you were and who you wanted to be.
I’m not fourteen anymore, thank God. I’ve dated, been married, been divorced, dated...again, and I am now happily partnered up. I’ve raised kids, started businesses, and lived a whole life. And you know what I still do?
Take quizzes.
Not the Cosmo ones anymore…do they still exist… (asking for a friend). But I still find myself drawn to those “what kind of person are you” questions. The ones that promise a little clarity. A little insight. A mirror held up at just the right angle.
And I don’t think I’m alone.
We Never Stop Wanting Answers
There’s something about a quiz that feels safe. You’re not saying “I think I’m in a situationship and it’s making me crazy” out loud to another human. You’re just... circling B. Selecting “mostly agree.” Answering hypotheticals about what you’d do if he or she didn’t text back for three days.
But really, you’re asking yourself the hard questions. The quiz just gives you permission.
My mom’s generation did this too, even if it looked different. They asked their friends, their sisters, their mothers. “Do you think he’s serious?” “Is this normal?” “How do I know if it’s real?”
My generation asked Cosmo. And our friends on the phone for hours with the cord dragged down the hall to your bedroom. And sometimes a therapist.
Gen Z asks TikTok. And Reddit. And they take personality tests and attachment style quizzes and love language assessments and send the results to each other like it’s a form of intimacy. Which, honestly, maybe it is.
The format changes. The longing doesn’t.
The Questions Stay the Same
Whether you’re seventeen and wondering if your crush likes you back, or thirty-four and wondering if your boyfriend is ever going to commit, or fifty-seven and wondering if it’s too late to find someone new... the questions underneath are the same.
Is this right? Am I enough? What do I actually want? Why do I keep ending up here?
A quiz won’t answer all of that. But sometimes it cracks a door open. Sometimes seeing your “result” makes you realize what you were hoping it would say. And that’s information too.
I Made Some Quizzes
If I am being honest, I was supposed to be working on my next book, cue the distraction tactics in the form of “I think the world needs some quizzes about relationships” - of course!
I wrote a whole collection of them, actually. Not because I think a quiz can solve your love life. But because I think the right questions, asked at the right time, can shake something loose.
They’re a little funny. They’re honest. They’re the kind of thing you can take alone at midnight when you’re spiraling, or with your partner on a road trip when you’re bored of podcasts, or with your best friend over wine when you need to figure out why you’re still texting that guy.
Because apparently I’m still that girl on the floor with the magazine. Just with better questions now.
Check out the quiz bundle here: Compatible, Combustible, or Just…Lackluster? 👈
And if you want more relationship fun, my book:
Love Laughs 👈 Funny Conversations Starters, Activities For Couples, And Romantic Ideas For Date Night and Beyond.
