Philip Jong

The desire for attention has led to the emergence of a new form of maladaptive behaviors among self-professed influencers on social media in recent years. Colloquially dubbed main character syndrome, it describes the distorted behaviors of influencers who fantasize themselves as the protagonists of their own life stories that are being played out publicly in front of an imagined audience. They act as if they are the star of their own shows and people in their lives exist solely as supportive cast of their performances. They romanticize (manufactured) struggles of their lives so to seek validation from others for their (faked) triumphs. While these influencers may also exhibit traits of narcissism, their behaviors are largely performative only to benefit the specific narratives they want to shape. Recently, a number of social media influencers with this syndrome are being called out for acting out in public while ignoring basic cultural and social norms. Their actions are often racist, misogynistic, or culturally insensitive and are deliberately made to provoke individuals whom the influencers regard as the antagonists in their twisted narratives. They ignore criticisms of their wrongdoings but are blinded by false approvals from their fans who are motivated to cheer them to continue their self-absorbed behaviors. A few of these influencers have even been arrested for public nuisance and harassment because of their actions. For these individuals, the toxic main character archetype they have adopted has grown beyond the social media persona which they initially imitate to become a part of their self-identity which they now use to reinforce their fictional lives.