6 Concrete Signs That You Love Their Attention (Not Them)

Sometimes, you might feel like you’re starting to fall for someone, when you really only love their attention. You love the way it feels to feel wanted. But that doesn’t necessarily mean you want this specific person to be your partner. Here are the signs you love their attention, not them as a person:

You’re excited when they text you — but usually don’t feel like texting back.

You want them to text first, to show that they’ve been thinking about you, to put effort into chasing you, but you aren’t really interested in having a conversation after that first text gets sent through. You might answer them a few times, but you’re the one who stops answering and ends the conversation because you’ve grown bored or have better ways to spend your time. After the initial boost to your ego, you’re done with them.

You’re excited when they ask to hang out — but spend the whole time bored when you actually see them.

Basically, you enjoy the idea of them more than the reality of them. You’re always thrilled when they set plans with you because you know that they’re counting down the seconds until you hang out. You know they’re craving your attention as much as you crave theirs. But once you’re actually in a room together, there’s not much to say. You’re not really enjoying yourself. You don’t mesh all that well. In fact, they kind of bore you.

You want them to want you — but you don’t want them to touch you.

You want them to give you compliments. You want them to talk about how badly they want to touch you. But when it turns from talk to action, you lose interest. You aren’t interested in kissing or cuddling or holding hands with them specifically. There are other people you would rather have get close to you.

You want to talk on your schedule — but don’t really want to hear what they have to say.

You basically use this person as a sounding board. You run to them whenever you want to share exciting news or rant about a bad day, but you rarely ask how they’re doing. You would rather talk than listen. Your conversations are pretty one-sided.

You like posting pictures with them more than hanging out with them.

You love it when they like your posts and pictures. And you love uploading pictures with them to show the world that someone is interested in you romantically. But actually hanging out with them feels like a chore. Basically, you want the world to see you as desirable and they help you accomplish that.

You expect them to put in effort online and off — but you don’t do the same.

You’re pretty hypocritical when it comes to them. You aren’t interested in putting in much effort, but you’re expecting them to put in a ton. You’re expecting them to go above and beyond because you feel like they need to fight for your attention.