Has the reality TV bug hit you yet? Because you know (as my granddaughter used to say), it seems everyone and his mother is vying for attention these days. However lately it seems that people don't care how they get the attention. And trust me everyone is not so much vying for attention, as they are DYING for attention these days. There is no limit to how far some people will go to these days to get it. From the Kardashians' to the Ozzies', everyone is dying to be on center stage! Why do you think I write? Yes, I love writing! And yes I love a challenge! But what about the thrill that comes with seeing your work published - your book becoming a best seller! But enough about me. Let's talk about the real attention seekers - the Housewives of NJ, NY, Atlanta, and every other participant in a reality TV show, and every Facebooker and Tweete out there!
It used to be that attention seekers were once classified as just that - attention seekers. They were a minority class, the attention seekers. I used to call my little girl an attention seeker whenever she would act out, and trust me she would act out both figuratively and literally. I always told her she should be an actor, she was so good. They were a small group that was labeled as attention seekers, and it was not in a good way. However, I don't know anymore, because nowadays it seems everyone is an attention-seeker.
Go to Facebook, Twitter, all social media, and you'll see what I mean. We can safely agree that while the Lost Generation of the 80's was called the "me" generation, today the whole world has jumped on that "me" band wagon, or at least vying for it. When I go on Facebook, it's amazing to see how many posts are up by the same people over and over again.
I've never been interested in psychology, but I think I would've been real good at it. However, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that human nature is such, that we humans seek constant affirmation and thrive on attention,. And with some people even bad or negative attention! Hence, tantrums in children, acting out in teenagers, and making fools of ourselves when we've had a little too much to drink. So yes, it doesn't stop with children! It seems that lately, it's the adults more than the children that are acting out and begging for attention. I myself have suffered from the attention-seeking syndrome. And who hasn't? Why do you think I have a blog and write books. Okay, half of it is my need to express myself, to enjoy what I love doing which is writing. But the other half is for affirmation. Anyone who tells you differently, is lying or kidding themselves. So if this is a fact, then why am I making such an issue of it. Okay, I'll tell you why.
Because it's appalling and pitiful, to say the least, that what once used to be a minority group has emerged to become the biggest group - the biggest attention-seeking bunch of people you ever saw. And the majority of them are adults. Call me crazy, but after that scare with the world ending last year around this time, I saw a spike in the me-generation. Suddenly, it seems that everyone wants to be a social media darling.
How much love and affirmation do we humans need to value ourselves as wholesome people that value in this world?
Is it something in the air, the air we drink, the foods we eat? What, I ask myself is it, that drives people to seek so much attention, even when they're surrounded by loving and supportive circles of family and friends. What's missing in their lives. (Because of course, I can't say that I blame a lonely person for seeking attention.) But nowadays it doesn't matter how much you have, how big a circle of friends and family one has, or how successful one is, it seems it's all about "me".
Comments are welcomed!
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| Me and my beautiful daughter at a good friend's wedding last year. |
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| Me when I was 29, as director of the "Back to School Picnic" in San Jose, Costa Rica |
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| Me in Masada, Herod's Fortress in the Negev Desert this month. |
