The Student Room Group

Attention seeking ('Look at me!') culture

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Original post by py0alb
Don't watch kids tv shows, be more selective with your friends on facebook.

You will also find that undergrads are possibly the most annoying creatures on earth. However normally you leave university before you notice this.


Kids TV is ****ing brilliant
Reply 21
OP this is the phase most people go through including yourself OP. If you look at young people in general they tend to wear the most attention seeking clothes. Young teenage women wear the brightest, the most daring styles and reveal the most flesh compared to there older female counterparts. Young teenage men wear baseball caps, t shirts with statements on fronts etc. You just got to learn to ignore them. We all require a little bit of attention, some more then others. The funny things is most of us will go back to this attention seeking phase when we hit mid life crisis.

Facebook is the worst thing, I had to deactivate it because I just wasnt cool enough. I got looked down upon because my wall was not as decorated and I did not had enough photos. Im such a loser
Reply 22
Original post by MancBoy
It seems a lot of young people these days are attention whores. Everyone is striving to be big city socialites. As the years go by more and more people are sucked in by this culture.

I think media is partly to blame. With shows like Britains Got Talent, X-factor, TOWIE, Made In Chelsea etc. It makes everyone believe that they could be a celebrity. Celebrity status is so glamorized these days so everyone will do anything gain celebrity status and this is where attention whoring comes into play.

People ave more of a platform these days to attention whore too. Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, blogs etc. I'm starting to think Facebook statuses are mainly to attention seek. There is not a day goes by where I don't see a status like 'Cant believe it!' or 'Why does this have to happen!'...statuses that beg for people to comment on it.

It seems like these days if you don't have enough photos on your Facebook you are deemed unfit for this world. Everything everyone does seems like its only for Facebook . I was out one night and I saw a group of girls who were constantly taking pictures for 2 hours...and then went home. I mean come on people! Enjoy the moment rather than killing it posing for photos. No one cares if you went out 'with the girlies!' like the whole world gives a **** because you can guarantee every other ****er is doing the same. Its nothing new. Stop advertising your lives!

I live in Manchester and there are a lot of young students that come over here from small towns/villages. These people are the worst when it comes to attention seeking. There is a lot of showing off talk. Usually in public places where there is a small audience in the surrounding area. You know the loud talking people do to make themselves look better. It's not even real conversations too its like everyone has to 'one-up' what ever the other person says. Its always something to do with gap years or what they've just bought or how drunk they got last night or if they got laid last night or what band they are listening to right now etc. Its like they want someone to go 'Really!! omg!!' but the reality is that no one ****ing cares.

...also when there is party there is always those people who want everyone else on the street to know they're having fun. Shouting and screaming as if they're the first people in the world to have a ****ing party. Having a house party doesn't automatically make you super cool. Everyone has parties. Get over it.

Am I the only one who feels this way?

I can't agree with you more tbh.
Reply 23
Original post by JCC-MGS
Kids TV is ****ing brilliant


Why is it that even though I find that I disagree with you on a number of issues, you still keep taking my POS's. :frown:
YES! You are completely right. These people annoy me so much - WHY DOES THE WORLD NEED TO KNOW ABOUT EVERY SINGLE TIME YOUR A TINY BIT UPSET OR OUT WITH FRIENDS OR EATING PIZZA?!

.___. We have all these amazing platforms to communicate with people and we clog them up with utter **** :mad:
I've recently just done an essay about this and ressure in general from the media, I can sand it to you if you like?
Original post by MancBoy


I live in Manchester and there are a lot of young students that come over here from small towns/villages. These people are the worst when it comes to attention seeking.

Am I the only one who feels this way?


I come from a tiny wee village and I'm not a whore.. My parents taught me how to dress myself from a very early age. I agree with a you, but I believe that peer pressure is another big factor to consider. Good rant though, only proving my theory that not every guy likes an easy girl. I have a boyfriend and so i proved to myself that not whoring myself out was ok and that being my own person is just fine! :smile: (y)
This is nothing new really; its just that now anybody has the platform to summon attention any second of the day. Attention seeking is rooted in basic psychology- everyone is born with an ego which strives to seek attention and validation. The ego creates your identity, albeit a a false one and this false sense of self can be controlled and perpetuated better than ever by social media sites. People have a desire to feel special and be liked hence the constant desire to be like celebrities.

The ego likes observers and glamour and that is why people love making a story of their minor achievements - they seek recognition and status. The more attention you get the more it feeds your ego, its a high maintenance activity it needs a constant stream of attention and recognition. It makes you feel safe and not vulnerable, however, it is entirely false.

The danger is that you need more and more to keep the illusion alive, hence why people will often seek recognition from the most mundane things. Just to keep up this false sense of self their ego has created.

Although, when this stream of attention dries up, people might fill the gap with other things such as material goods etc... However, even that will not be enough to fulfil what you crave and that's when everything will coming crashing down.

Hence, why you get many celebrities who commit suicide or turn to taking drugs and alcohol, when their careers take a nose dive and they cant get attention any more and even their wealth cant satisfy them any more.
(edited 11 years ago)
I think it's actually a pretty understandable reaction to the incredible pace at which the tools of content generation have come into the hands of the masses over the last few years. It's easy to forget that ours is the first generation in which potentially the majority of the media we consume is generated by people not making money out of it, and even people that we know. Because we don't have an established cultural reaction to this, it's very easy for young people to get carried away with creating their own content, resulting in the levels of self-promotion that you're taking issue with.

Once our society ends up with a more settled attitude to the idea that the media we consume every day no longer belongs to a limited group of 'media people', I think we'll see what at the moment seems like an intolerable amount of narcissism among young people as an important transitional step.
Reply 29
The worst for me are the cat fights/ People saying, "When bitches leave statuses about you and then delete them," quickly statused back by said friend , "When bitches bitch about you on their status. OMG!"

That, or messy FB break-ups.
Reply 30
I know this girl where if anything funny (its usually not even that funny!) happens, she will get her phone out and snap a photo of it, and put it on facebook. My friend once broke her pen, and was about to throw it in the bin; the other girl made her stop and pose for a photo so she could let the world know that someone broke their pen....it just boggles my mind!
Reply 31
The counter-culture attention seeking is MUCH worse than pop culture teenage trends.
Lol, I hate those messages where a girl would say... "Argh, men/boys are all the same. I'm going to become a lesbian."

*1 week later*

______ is now in a relationship with Steven.
I remember the days when girls used to post "PC4PC" on their MySpace statuses... Photo comments for photo comments? Jeeze. How attention seeking can you get
Original post by Jono404
This thread has reminded me, has anyone else's news feed been clogged up with people sharing horrific photos of chemotherapy patients, deformed babies, war victims and the like with stupid messages like 'SHARE THIS IF SOMEONE YOU KNOW HAS HAD CANCER' or some ****, and they just feel the need to traumatise everyone for attention and to feel better about themselves by sharing it, no one wants to see that.


The best thing about those is the pisstakes that start surfacing, like the one about pokebullying (that Gastly's been trying to learn something other than "Mean Look", be nice to it!") or how Goku saved the world many more times than Jesus did but no one ever says thanks to him.
Reply 35
Now Facebook has turned into a platform for people to compete against each other in terms of whose profile is the most active.

If your profile page is dead, you will very quickly be judged by friends that you are not in the trend or considered an anomaly.


Given the choice, i would rather much meet my friends in person rather than contacting them through FB. Still missed the times when we write letters or call/text each other to get that sense of personal touch :frown:
Original post by charmayne :)
I come from a tiny wee village and I'm not a whore.. My parents taught me how to dress myself from a very early age. I agree with a you, but I believe that peer pressure is another big factor to consider. Good rant though, only proving my theory that not every guy likes an easy girl. I have a boyfriend and so i proved to myself that not whoring myself out was ok and that being my own person is just fine! :smile: (y)


Aww you sound so cute. I only keep fb because of my course, it helps keep me up to date and I can help people with work but once I finish my degree fb is going I want to sever all ties with the 'friends' I don't talk to/see anymore. I can walk into lectures on any day and it is always the same topics that come up, who x slept with last night, how much vodka x drank, the next shopping spree, getting smashed tomorrow, who is cheating on who. Even as I type this some fool has set off the fire alarm, probably as a dare!!!! I'll be back in half an hour.
Original post by MancBoy
It seems a lot of young people these days are attention whores. Everyone is striving to be big city socialites. As the years go by more and more people are sucked in by this culture.

I think media is partly to blame. With shows like Britains Got Talent, X-factor, TOWIE, Made In Chelsea etc. It makes everyone believe that they could be a celebrity. Celebrity status is so glamorized these days so everyone will do anything gain celebrity status and this is where attention whoring comes into play.

People ave more of a platform these days to attention whore too. Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, blogs etc. I'm starting to think Facebook statuses are mainly to attention seek. There is not a day goes by where I don't see a status like 'Cant believe it!' or 'Why does this have to happen!'...statuses that beg for people to comment on it.

It seems like these days if you don't have enough photos on your Facebook you are deemed unfit for this world. Everything everyone does seems like its only for Facebook . I was out one night and I saw a group of girls who were constantly taking pictures for 2 hours...and then went home. I mean come on people! Enjoy the moment rather than killing it posing for photos. No one cares if you went out 'with the girlies!' like the whole world gives a **** because you can guarantee every other ****er is doing the same. Its nothing new. Stop advertising your lives!

I live in Manchester and there are a lot of young students that come over here from small towns/villages. These people are the worst when it comes to attention seeking. There is a lot of showing off talk. Usually in public places where there is a small audience in the surrounding area. You know the loud talking people do to make themselves look better. It's not even real conversations too its like everyone has to 'one-up' what ever the other person says. Its always something to do with gap years or what they've just bought or how drunk they got last night or if they got laid last night or what band they are listening to right now etc. Its like they want someone to go 'Really!! omg!!' but the reality is that no one ****ing cares.

...also when there is party there is always those people who want everyone else on the street to know they're having fun. Shouting and screaming as if they're the first people in the world to have a ****ing party. Having a house party doesn't automatically make you super cool. Everyone has parties. Get over it.

Am I the only one who feels this way?


Agree with everything except the bit about talking loud. Some people naturally have a louder voice and perhaps enjoy talking more. Unless you mean the people who interupt others as well as shouting everything they - stuff that isn't even interesting but just random crap.
Original post by PinkyPurply
I was thinking this yesterday.

Does anyone else feel that more and more people are dying to have something wrong with them? I'm sick of people announcing that they've been diagnosed with depression because they couldn't drag themselves into school.


someone who is truly depressed wouldn't announce it, or think of using it as an excuse, it's pretty detrimental to every aspect of your life so don't be so narrow minded
Reply 39
Couldn't agree more with that post OP.

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