Attention Seeking - Why do people do it?

Introduction:

                                                        

We have all have friends who are attention seekers, hell, I am one myself. We have all seen that dude who cuts himself and asks for sympathy and that female who posts inappropriate selfies with her boyfriend claiming how good her relationship is and what not.

Obviously, all of it is fake and we all know it. But then why will someone go out of their way to get attention just for the heck of it? Why can't they just be themselves and enjoy life as it is?

The answer lies in the self-esteem of human beings. 

The people who crave too much attention, are people who have a low sense of self and they have to fill in that void by getting attention. This low sense of self can be because of Unresolved parental issues, childhood trauma, narcissistic parents etc.

Almost every mental problem people have can be traced back to their childhood. The people who seek attention excessively are the people who weren't given much attention during their childhood or were given too much attention during their childhood (That's a problem too! LOL) 

Adults can seek attention due to jealousy, where they feel inferior to their co-worker and want more respect than them.

Attention seeking is very destructive in its own and if you think you do have a problem you should see a therapist or try to deal with it yourself.

How do you know if you are an attention seeker?

• You fake an illness to get attention.
• You do things that would embarrass you in front of people.
• You comment inappropriate things on social media.
• You brag about the things you have on social media
• You play the victim all the time.
• You throw tantrums at small things.
• You just know.

                                                  

Our brains are wired to crave for attention to some extent but because of things happened in our childhood, it can make us crave for it all the time. Wanting attention is a basic human need, its not wrong in any way. But then when it affects your day to day life, that is where it becomes a problem.

Any form of negative attention seeking is wrong. I've realised that attention seeking is fine until the craving is because I am offering some value. For example: Take the case of Kim Kardashian, who doesn't know her aye? She is an attention whore. BUT her attention is not based on any value, it's hollow. BUT if you take the case of an artist, who is a musician/painter, if the artist posts about his/her music online and expects people to give it attention, it's justified since it's attention seeking but for a good cause because that can actually make someone's career. Whereas, with the previous example, showing your tits and ass to strangers online and demanding attention is not going to go well for her mentally. 

How to make it better:

                         

•  Practice an art form - Could be playing the guitar or painting random things.
• Spend time alone.
• Avoid social media.
• Try to be aware of the times you crave for attention.
• Be generous to people (Another way of getting positive attention)
• Cut out all sorts of negative attention seeking things you do.
• Talk to a therapist.
• Ask friends and family to help.

I hope I din't miss out anything, if you like to add something, feel free to do so. 

Check this out for some laughs: 21 Dramatic Facebook statuses 

Thanks for reading!