Woman Coins The 'What About Me' Effect, Explaining Why Internet Commenters are so Narcissistic

Emmy Pratt • Senior Editor

Sep 20, 2023 3:00 PM EDT

Internet comments have always been a cesspool. I remember back in 2009 when the comment sections of nearly all YouTube videos were dominated by bots trying to get engagement from unsuspecting kids. Even though comment sections on some websites (I'm looking at you, Twitter) have gotten less buggy over the years, you can never underestimate the stupidity of the average reply guy. Sometimes, I read comments on TikTok videos or replies to tweets, and I want to shake the commenters and tell them that nobody is forcing them to consume content that they hate. People will nitpick everything they watch, always searching for something wrong or upsetting so they can point it out and feel a sense of victory.

A TikToker recently coined a new term called the 'What About Me Effect' to describe how commenters will criticize content creators for not appealing to their desires specifically, and it's been gaining a lot of traction on Twitter.