Who am I? Don’t look up online for an honest answer

An online personality test can only be an important point to restart a conversation with the self, writes Rym Ghazal

Online psychological tests are just meant for fun and to leave you feeling positive, not meant to empower you with some new piece of knowledge. Jaime Puebla / The National

There is a question that has always fascinated humanity, the question of self: who am I?

That is why online tests like “What Disney princess are you?” (I got Princess Jasmine by the way) are so popular.

For some of these tests, all you have to do is type in your name, and like magic it tells you who and what you are like.

Now, there are thousands, if not millions, of people who may have your name, so are you all the same? Not only that, when will a test ever tell you, “hey, you are just average” and not this amazing fun cool “unique” person everyone loves and adores?

Some people reshare the results everywhere, as if to remind those around them how awesome they are. I believe these tests are just meant for fun and to leave you feeling positive, not meant to empower you with some new piece of knowledge.

There is nothing wrong with doing things that make you feel better, especially since our social media feed is often crammed with depressing news and updates.

I come from a psychology background, and am fascinated by everything related to this field.

As a region rocked with so many conflicts and so many related psychological issues, interventions are much needed.

One way to gently introduce this process of self-analysis is through schools. A child could note down honestly what bothers him or her, and perhaps even learning problems could be uncovered earlier to help the child. I had dyslexia and no one knew. I struggled alone for the longest time at a Saudi school where teachers thought I was just “being naughty” and ignoring instructions.

Long before the internet, there were personality tests published in magazines and conducted at universities. We should not underestimate the importance of professional personality tests.

Personality tests, like the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator assessment, a psychometric questionnaire designed to measure psychological preferences in how people perceive the world and make decisions, are taken seriously and can help one find the better fitting job for one’s personality and natural preferences.

I recall a representative from a human resources department in the US telling me how it is good to do these tests, understand the results and then beef up a resume by highlighting some of the strengths that come naturally to you.

There are many people in jobs that don’t fit their personality and natural preferences, and so they end up unhappy in their work, wasting years, when a quick test could help them find out information about themselves.

People rely on horoscopes to know about their future when there are far more reliable sources that can tell you how to react to certain situations to bring about positive outcomes. I also found this Arabic proverb quite funny: “Self-praise is like chewing cotton wool.”

In a way, we are self-praising whenever we pick out things we like from our horoscopes or tests. It is hard, if not impossible to swallow something like cotton wool, and also, it leaves the mouth sore from all that chewing. I wish we were calm and dignified all the time, but often we are not even on a good day. We all have good and bad qualities, and we just have to be honest about who we are. From time to time, we need to sit with our “self” as it is important for our professional and personal relations to check ourselves and see what is working and what isn’t.

Ultimately, whatever princess or prince a test may tell you are like, it may not be the most reliable test. It can be an important point to restart a conversation with the self. For while social media is all about “me” and “myself”, there isn’t much reflection and analysis of this me.

On Twitter: @Arabianmau