Having friends who ALWAYS have to be the center of attention

[Allyo]

I find it really annoying sometimes to hang out with people who always have to be the center of attention. Does it bother you too? I'm not sure what the psychological causes or ramifications are for this kind of behavior, but all I know is that it just get on my nerves sometimes.

 

My roommate is like this a lot. She is an attractive girl and can be pleasant, so I can't say that she is a horrible person or anything. But whenever we are in a group together she has to be weird or dramatic or really drunk to monopolize all the attention. She also seems to value her opinion more than anyone else's... like she always has the most important things to say. Sometimes I'll be talking and feel like she just straight up ignores me. I've noticed that she doesn't have a lot of close female friends, and I am beginning to think that this is why.

 

At the same time, maybe we are just different. I am pretty much the exact opposite of her. I am laid back, not competitive, and I always try to mediate my time between everyone when I am hanging out in a group to try to make other people feel comfortable and involved in whatever is going on.

 

Is it normal to always want to be the center of attention?

[anu1560]

No it is not normal for most people wanting to be center of attention all the time. But each and every human being likes a little bit of attention once in a while. But some people have low self esteem and they need that constant attention to make them feel good about themselves. So I would say, it is normal for them. I know few people like that. I have a acquaintance who is really normal when she is with me. The minute there is a third person (doesn't matter who the third person is), she gets all insecure and starts cutting into conversations in a loud voice trying to prove she is better than me. Which is really annoying since I don't even try to be competitive. I hate those over competitive people. But slowly I realized how pathetic she is and how sad it is. She has very low self esteem and gets really insecure. I would guess, your friend falls on this category of people. ATTENTION SEEKER. Try to forgive them thinking that they are people who are not confident about themselves.

[ut804]

yes I have a friend like that.. very annoying!

 

my friend can never listen, she always talks. There's always drama with her. She wears clothes with her bra and thong sticking out. She talks loud and talks and flirts with everyone. She takes a million photos of herself and posts them on facebook. She puts status updates on facebook every 5 minutes.

 

In the extreme there is a psychological disorder that characterizes this called Histrionic Personality Disorder. I'm not saying your friend has it (these are extreme and significant cases) but such a disorder exists.

Normal cases are probably cauded by low self-esteem.