The problem with attention addicts is, when they grow up enough to not be cute any more they start finding other ways to get attention. This is how drama queens (and kings) are born.
It's kinda funny you should mention this, because it does head the nail on the head in some things I have been thinking about lately. XD
I had a discussion with my aunt on the phone once recently, (an area where both of us could relate, because we were the youngest/last born in both of our family units), about how things change when you get just a little older. Like basically... when you're anywhere between 1-5, you don't even have to do anything and everyone around you, even strangers sometimes, will just say how gosh-darn cute you are and give you free toys and cookies.
Then when you get to the age of 10 or so... during that time, everybody is paying attention to the new roundup of babies (which is fair, considering the young tykes do need a lot of attention anyway and they don't stay that small for long... so people should enjoy them while they're little) buuut for you, now you're just beginning to be treated a bit like a mini-adult, not all the attention is on you anymore (at least not in the same way) and *gaspies*, now you're expected to start doing a few things. >.>
Still though... I suppose in some ways, the "I'm cute" stuff can be prolonged for quite a while, just in different ways and depending on how you do it, until you reach young adulthood.
I just find it interesting where you said that when the age of "being cute" ends, people have to turn to other things for attention. I'm.... rather embarrassed to admit it, but there were a lot of areas where I acted like a drama queen. And since I was sometimes at least a bit popular and friendly in a few different internet communities, one person said when I was reflecting back on it that I was probably a little bit like a mini-celebrity back then, considering how many fanfics I wrote but also how much drama I put into things.
I still think that maybe.... part of my issue now or why I am trying to figure out where I'm at in life now is because, to a degree anyway, I genuinely know what it feels like to be a "has-been". I had my golden days in some ways, but the people who used to idolize me and and anything I did are long gone and their focus is on better and more important things these days (rightfully so).
Plus... the internet is just diffent these days. Gone are the times, it seems, where you can just slide into a place and get recognition. I think part of the thing was... people were friendlier on the internet a couple decades ago, not to mention there were some smaller communities that made some topics or fandoms more localized. Perhaps the internet equivalent of, "If you want this brand of steak, you gotta go here because there's nowhere else quite like it that sells it." These days, you've got everybody scattered to the four winds between Tik Tok, Snapchat, Tumblr, Facebook, Instgram, etc etc etc.
But anyway... I sometimes feel a tad like maybe I wasted my twenties in some ways, because... except for a lot of wisdom and experience I learned through some hardships and through talking to friends online and spending a lot of time with them while they were there... I sorta feel like I'm just left with a void during my 30's that I'm only slowly trying to figure out to fill.
After all, what can you do when you still remember what life was like before the internet, and you were also a huge part of the internet in some ways when it was friendly and newish, and now.... even THAT is gone and different, too?
