We always know at least one of these people in our lives. They are the people who are consistently craving for attention. The class clown in 3rd grade, the bully in 7th grade, and the spoiled teen in the neighborhood are one of these attention-seeking people. Now with the advent of Facebook in recent years, attention seekers have changed the purpose of Facebook as a method of connecting and communicating with people to an apparatus of seeking attention from peers. These attention seekers on Facebook can simply be known as ASFU – Attention Seeking Facebook Users. ASFU come in various shapes and forms. The most common types are the frequent status posters who seem to update their statuses hourly every day. The frequent status posters often post immature statuses about the whimsical thoughts in their minds, the daily occurrences in their lives, and the pretentious philosophical views.

Every time I login to my Facebook account, I always see a news feed that is bombarded with the foolish statuses of these ASFU. Sometimes an ASFU would post continuous nonsensical statuses faster than the speed of light. It irritates me to observe ASFU who deliberately try to attract attention with the absurd statuses.


Do I need to know your personal daily doings?

Do I need to know what you had for breakfast, lunch, and dinner?

Do I need to know your confessions?

Do I need to know the “truth is” responses to all your friends?

Do I need to know who you like and dislike in school or work?


The answer is merely NO. It is unnecessary for ASFU to share every aspect in their lives with their peers. Such personal information should be kept to oneself, rather than to be spread though the scheming realm of Facebook.
I had always believed that ASFU are narcissistic individuals who try so hard to gain the awareness of the rest of society through aggravating posts of their personal thoughts and activities. But my myopic view about ASFU has changed as I have come to understand that not all ASFU attempt to attract attention on purposely. Many ASFU and other attention seekers only do so because of the one common factor in their lives: insecurity. Insecurity can ascend from the family problems, academic stress, and relationship conflicts in an ASFU’s life that others tend to neglect or fail to see. Hence, the insecure feelings of ASFU often cause them to yearn for attention from social media websites which, of course, includes Facebook by posting every little aspect of their thoughts and acts to the public. Studies from the psychological department of York University in Canada have shown that narcissism often stems from the lack of self esteem. But searching for attention will not realistically solve the problems of ASFU in the long run. It can only satisfy the hunger for care and consideration for a short period of time. If ASFU truly want their hearts be heard by people they care, they should just search for direct methods in which they can express their hidden messages. Why become irritating on Facebook by posting these outrageous posts, particularly statuses, when ASFU can just try reaching out to their close family and friends to converse about the true feelings of bliss and hardships in life?

Let us all declare ourselves free from becoming an ASFU. Whenever we encounter struggles in life, we should not avoid them by simply expressing through childish ways on Facebook. It is not through ostentatious posts on Facebook that we receive genuine love and care from our family and friends, but by being ourselves.