The “What about me?” effect, also known as “Main Character Syndrome,” describes a mindset in which individuals believe they are the centre of the narrative, with everyone around them serving as supporting cast or otherwise less important.
Admittedly, having a healthy self-perception and confidence is essential to fostering good relationships and personal growth; however, vanity and self-obsession differ starkly from a regular high self-esteem.
Recently, this phenomenon has surged in popularity on social media, with many using the term as a light-hearted joke.
Yet, the phenomenon goes beyond internet slang—it highlights a complex psychological shift in self-perception and interpersonal dynamics.
Perhaps this is an issue we should take more seriously and assess its impact on everyday life.
The rise of influencers and the over-glorification of luxury and ease has numbed us to the mundanity of life.
Our curated feeds, which emphasise aesthetics, pressure viewers to beautify everyday activities, from making morning coffees to doing laundry.
One person’s task has become an influencer’s treasure.
Social media personalities have become the face of “main character syndrome,” often portraying entitled behaviours and disregarding others as they are seen as less successful.
Furthermore, by turning their lives into performances for entertainment, they have indeed become “characters” through their platforms, while we, the viewers, have become their “audience.”
Due to the rise of social media, many believe that their lives hold far more significance than they may truly possess. This perception is deeply influenced by personalised feeds like the “For You Page” on platforms such as TikTok and Instagram.
The concept of a “For You Page” centralises the user in all that they are exposed to, with content curated by advanced algorithms that decide based on the user’s past and present behaviours and preferences.
This is done to maximise the time the user spends on the app so they can be influenced by other users and the advertisements present.
Through social media, we have slowly been conditioned to subconsciously believe that everything should be tailored to us.
By continually reinforcing the idea that we are the focal point of our digital worlds, these algorithms foster a sense of heightened self-importance, which can be detrimental to personal relationships and how we interact with the world and our environments.
This has also led to users becoming impatient and unsympathetic with others who do not fit into our “narratives.”
The more we communicate, the smaller the world becomes, leading us to become increasingly familiar with each other’s struggles.
In a strange way, however, the value of the things we endure decreases.
Ultimately, social media’s “For You Pages” illustrate a societal shift toward self-centricity, where algorithms encourage users to view their curated experiences as reflections of personal worth and significance.
In doing so, they reshape not only how we consume content but also how we understand our place in the world.
We are left asking "What about me?".
