I’m 29 (M), and I just need to get this off my chest. I genuinely thought I’d learn something about myself—maybe even become a better version of me. Paid for a test on some website, went through it, and got this generic report. Nothing deep, nothing useful. I was expecting something more, but all I got was empty words.
Now I’m sitting here thinking how naive I was to fall for it. I’m ashamed I put so much hope into such nonsense. They even offered some courses afterward, but it all looks like a sham, not anything worthwhile. I tried reaching out to clarify something, but I never got a reply. Has anyone else felt this stupid for hoping for something cool and just getting garbage? It just feels awful.
Comments
Those sites are designed to pull you in. You’re not the first, won’t be the last
Another ‘self-discovery’ letdown. You are definitely better off reaching out to people rather than resorting to the internet.
try looking up free quizzes next time – less risk, same idea.
> Nothing deep, nothing useful. I was expecting something more, but all I got was empty words. Now I’m sitting here thinking how naive I was to fall for it.
So what you’re telling me is, you did learn something about yourself? It just wasn’t what or how you were expecting.
Yep. Astrology. I thought that stuff had some merit. Then I looked into it (I was gonna tell you your FUTURE!) I realized how generic and widely applicable the ‘personality traits’ were and understood it for a grand deceptive con.
Found out palmistry is a con when my friend, who had had multiple miscarriages and failed in vitro attempts to have a baby, went to a palm reader. The palmist took around $160, $20 by $20 by pausing mid prediction so my friend was compelled to pass another $20 to get her answers.
The palmist told my friend she’d have a baby. My friend instead died from massive head trauma in a car wreck. She never had a baby. That palmist can go fuck herself.
Most of those ‘self help’, personality tests, and ‘we will figure out where you’re broken and fix you!’-are cons, looking for lonely people experiencing emotional pain and struggling in life.
Your best bet is to try to live healthy, work hard at your goals, be kind to others, exercise, don’t use your vices to excess. Take some time alone to think about yourself, what do you like, what do you dislike? What do you want from life? What do you definitely not want from life. Get to know yourself and develop a fierce self love and self protectiveness. Extend that love and protectiveness to your fellow humans.
You don’t need to pay anyone to do those things, and I promise, that’s what you’ll pay to hear.
Let’s reframe this. Based on this post, here’s what I, a middle-aged mom in the Midwestern United States, knows about you:
You believed in yourself enough to try something new.
You know you are worthy of self-care.
You are curious.
You are self-aware enough to seek growth.
You are willing to invest in yourself.
You are not easily fooled with flowery words.
You have high standards for yourself – and, therefore, others. (This is the root of that shame feeling you’re feeling. You might reflect on this.)
Listen, you learned. You didn’t learn what you set out to learn (insights into yourself) but you learned (no online quiz is going to be able to reflect the dynamic, complex, layered person you are.)
Throw this in the “Learned the Hard Way” bucket and move on with your day.