To think this is attention seeking behaviour?

[RunAlexRun]

Someone on my Facebook friends announced her pregnancy back in February. About a month ago she did a status saying that they now knew the sex of the baby but were keeping it to themselves for now and would reveal it 'in due course'

She then announced a couple of weeks ago that they would announce the sex of the baby in FB today, and for the last two weeks has posted regular bump photos and statuses saying how many days to go until she's revealing the sex.

So, today is 'the big reveal' and she did a status this morning saying they were spending the day with the DCs and they'll do their announcement later. No announcement as yet, cue lots of people writing on her FB wall asking when she's going to let them know.

AIBU to think this is ridiculous, attention seeking behaviour? They are not celebrities btw, just a couple who are up themselves!

Reason number 4123098576 not to join FakeBook. Why do you care? In what way does this impact on your life? Nubbled -- brilliant, love it. So, so true. FB can be so annoying.

I used to use facebook a lot about 5-10 years ago (everyone did 5-10 years ago!) and then I realised you could unfollow people you found boring/annoying/stupid so their statuses stopped appearing in your newsfeed. Awesome! I used that unfollow button a lot!

By the time I deactivated my facebook last year the only accounts I was still following were BBC news, the NY Times and a couple of film and music blogs.

Completely narcissistic and cringe worthy 🤦‍♀️

Please just say “ it’s going to be a boy or girl, it’s not a surprise” ( insert emoji of choice). Feel free to add they are able to change gender ( apparently) in the future should they feel the need. Sometimes es it just needs someone to point out the obvious..

Soooo what was it? And how did they reveal it? Was it a crappy balloon pop?

Ooh what are they having what are they having?! We need to know now!

It could be worse, they could be having a gender reveal party... boak

Narcissism level - off the chart

Facebook - nay social media - is largely about attention seeking. Embrace it or leave it.

It's a girl. The 'reveal' was a photo of them standing in their garden with the kids holding pink balloons. Yawn.

AIBU to think this is ridiculous, attention seeking behaviour? They are not celebrities btw, just a couple who are up themselves!

Yes it is but you can just ignore it, if people want to court attention like that and others want to respond then let them: it doesn't hurt anybody.

I’ve spent the last 12+ years training and then practicing as a counsellor and eventually psychotherapist. If I’ve learnt only one thing it’s that if someone is attention seeking it’s because they desperately need attention and the kindest thing you can do is to give them that attention.

It’s a tiny bit of your life OP. Would it take anything from you to make a bit of a fuss of her?

The ‘look at me brigade* are far too draining and they suck the joy out of everything.

I was watching a video where a soon to be brother and sister didn’t the reveal and one was so upset it wasn’t their choice.

So cue FB post because it’s so hilarious watching kids tantrum over something they shouldn’t be concerned over.

Not very exciting waiting for the reveal, it's 50/50!

Um... there are more options than that these days, @Pinotjo

@winbinin if someone is attention seeking it’s because they desperately need attention and the kindest thing you can do is to give them that attention.

With respect, I disagree. Sometimes, the very worst thing you can do is give a serial attention seeker attention. If they have any sort of narcissistic personality disorder then all you are doing is feeding their need for supply. It’s like feeding online trolls. Some people really are best ignored.

I’m not saying the OP’s friend/relative has a narcissistic personality disorder, obviously, but your advice is a very “one size fits all” take on things.

Unfortunately she isn't someone I can defriend or have nothing to do with

You can hide her updates.

I had to do this with someone who like you I couldn't defriend.

She writes all kinds of rubbish and I honestly think she has some mild MH issues from her posts.

She's made FB her life and I was getting fed up of it. She actually asked me wht I never commented on her posts.

kindest thing you can do is to give them that attention

Nooooo that just encourages the self centred behaviour.

Do people really care about the sex of another person’s baby? Do they jump up and down at the prospect of another friend doing a ‘big reveal’? I suspect not but whatever floats your boat, and the aren’t hurting anyone.

We didn’t find out (although we were 99.9% sure that DS was a DS) and chose not to tell anyone what we thought.

Although one of my sisters was keen to know (as she was making baby clothes and wanted a steer on colours - he ended up with green, which is fine because I love green).

Yikes, that's assuming a huge amount of interest from others in their pregnancy! I guess you can just scroll on past though, she's not doing any harm.

Given that it's her 4th there's a reasonable chance she's already got a daughter so maybe you should post 'oh another girl, shame, I was hoping for something more exciting... Oh well, better luck next time'

Are their DC’s all the same sex and this one is the other sex? Still ridiculous behaviour though.

*I’ve spent the last 12+ years training and then practicing as a counsellor and eventually psychotherapist. If I’ve learnt only one thing it’s that if someone is attention seeking it’s because they desperately need attention and the kindest thing you can do is to give them that attention.

It’s a tiny bit of your life OP. Would it take anything from you to make a bit of a fuss of her?*

I’m a psychotherapist too and while there is no need to be actively unkind, the kindest thing to do is ignore attention seeking. No need to attack that person but no need to endorse the behaviour either. I often recommend coming away from social media altogether (or at least taking a break from it), it just amplifies behaviour and skews the picture of someone. Half the people who drive us crazy wouldn’t have crossed our minds before FB et al. It’s amazing how many people who do take a break report how much better they feel and that they didn’t realise how much SM was subtly increasing a low mood and cynicism.

Um... there are more options than that these days

Huh??

Um... there are more options than that these days

🧐 There really aren’t.

This is hilarious, do they really think people care and are counting down the days?