Humblebragging — bragging masked by a complaint or humility — really infuriates people. Mainly because the disguise isn't fooling us.
A 2018 study from researchers at Harvard and the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill found that it is even worse than regular, straight-up self-promotion. The latter at least comes off as genuine!
However, some folks just can't help it. They let their insecurities get the best of them and put their false modesty on full display, ready to savor all the attention and recognition it might earn.
When that happens, they end up on a subreddit called r/HumbleBrag. The online community for shaming this pitiful self-presentation. Continue scrolling and check out some of its top posts.
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Very Pretty Girl Btw
"[Humblebragging] is such a common phenomenon. All of us know some people in our lives, whether in social media or in the workplace, who do this annoying thing," study author Ovul Sezer, an assistant professor of organizational behavior at UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School, said. "You think, as the humblebragger, that it's the best of both worlds, but what we show is that sincerity is actually the key ingredient."
Sezer and her team conducted a series of experiments, trying to determine how common humblebragging actually is and how others perceive it. They discovered that humblebragging is everywhere: Out of 646 people surveyed, 70% could recall a humblebrag they'd heard recently.
Ah Yes
The researchers then established that there are two distinct types of humblebrags. The first falls back on a complaint ("I hate that I look so young; even a 19-year-old hit on me!") while the second relies on humility ("Why do I always get asked to work on the most important assignment?"). The results showed that roughly 60% of the humblebrags people remembered fell into the complaint category.
I Laughed More Than I Should’ve
My almost 7 year old has recently learnt how to do his buttons up and I am very proud. It’s not a race to see whose child is the best, the smartest, tallest, best looking etc.
Woman Got Called Out In A Facebook Group For Humblebragging About Paying For Someone’s Burger And Fries
The researchers also carried out experiments to see how people responded to humblebrags, particularly focusing on the bragger's perceived likability and competence. They found that regular bragging was better on both counts, it at least comes off as genuine, Sezer explained. Interestingly, even complainers were more likable and seemed more competent than humblebraggers of any type.
These People Are Cancer
Loves His Niece
"If you want to announce something, go with the brag and at least own your self-promotion and reap the rewards of being sincere, rather than losing in all dimensions," Sezer said.
It would be even better if there was someone to 'wingman' your boasting. "If someone brags for you, that's the best thing that can happen to you, because then you don't seem like you're bragging," Sezer added.
Saw This In My Feed And Felt It Belonged Here
Mum's Stretching The Truth
However, we may want to rethink our harsh criticism of humblebraggers. We may be doing it ourselves without realizing it. "We all do it, to some extent," Sezer said. "I hope I don't sound like I’m humblebragging when I talk about this research."
If Only There Were A Way To Prevent This From Happening
" Just A Kid In My Bedroom" Who Is Actually A God
wait what the hell did I just read?? Harry got the right reaction tbh
Bible Belt Humblebrag
Yeah, and posting it on Twitter so angels could see your deed and retweet it in heaven.
Subtle
It’s your humility that makes you attractive. Or your sarcasm.
Additional studies examined the causes of humblebragging; in other words, if this strategy is so bad, why do people engage in it at all? After all, many situations in life involve either complaining or bragging. The humblebrag, the authors discovered, occurs when people try to elicit both sympathy and admiration.
This Guy Has Too Many Friends
Such Grace. Such Restraint
You Lose Touch So Fast
Actually, it is true, and really annoying. I am French, but sometimes I use English words because I cannot remember the French ones.
It’s So Annoying, Especially Because It’s Daily
Unfortunately, as we already discussed, this produces the opposite effects. However, it is possible that even though you dislike seeing humblebragging in others, you feel that you’ve got no choice but to model the behavior of people in your network who use this strategy. But the Harvard-UNC study suggests you need to fight off this impulse.
So Embarrassing
Sooo embarrassing.....that you feel the need to pretend to react for likes. Let your dancing speak itself, smh
This Is The Very Definition Of Humble Brag
Anyone with one comma in their account isn’t broke... but two commas! And do they have Wells Fargo in Dubai. No, really, this is from Warren Buffet in Omaha, right!
She Made Up A Story In Order To Flex
University Is So Wierd
When you think about it, no wonder so many humblebraggers reveal their true colors online. Social media is a lot to blame for this.
As writer Roxanne Batty pointed out, Zuckerberg, for example, promised Facebook would "give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected." Systrom, a year after starting Instagram, described the platform as "a storytelling service…the way you go out in the world and tell a story about your life." Not to be outshone, Snapchat took this rhetoric one step further, their original mission being to "empower people to express themselves, live in the moment, learn about the world, and have fun together."
It all may sound lovely, but people have taken these slogans to the extreme.
Ughhh, Im Sooeee Bad At Drawing
How I understand it: what he drew was the eye on the right, but because people like him and don't want him to feel bad, they pretend his drawing to be as good as the one on the left. That's my headcanonical explanation and I don't want any facts or logical explanation to divert me from it.
A Humblebrag Of The Finest Quality
Yeah, just a few more inches short of being secure, those darn two inches down there...
Good On You For Being Fluent In 4 Languages
Being fluent doesn't mean you can't make mistakes. I even make mistakes in my native language
if you know English you already know you're bound to make a mistake
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Fluent...I know people who claim to be fluent because they know more than 4 sentences in a language.
Me too. Knew a girl who literally knew 10 words in French and declared it enough to be declared "intermediate" on her resume
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I do wish people stopped assuming American (US) citizens don't speak more than one language. First of all, our education systems do not demand we learn a second one fluently, let alone a third, but... SECOND of all, many of us do speak more than one. Or some of a second and/or third. Yes, I'm cranky, but this stereotype bugs me, as a child of a multilingual parent.
Yeah, I seem to remember having to choose between 2 years of Spanish, French, German, or Russian for my language courses and I went to public school. To this day, I have difficulty speaking German, but I can read it and understand it spoken to me (some of the time).
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Your being fluent in other languages does not change the fact that you were wrong in English, though? You being condescending when corrected only makes YOU look like the douche, in any language.
I think you need to understand that a lot of Americans sneer at immigrants and refugees for not being fluent English speakers and it's always contextualized within the 'you're inferior to us folks' and that's the only context in which people respond in this way. If Americans stop random people for speaking Spanish or Arabic and demand they speak English because they're in the US even while they're having conversations among themselves, it comes from a place of privilege and entitlement. When someone uses language as a tool to demean others and their heritage, there is nothing wrong with telling them that it's much more difficult to speak multiple languages imperfectly than a single one.
Or speak three languages moderately well, let alone one....
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If you don’t know “you’re” from “your”, you’re not as fluent as you think. Just try switching a contraction for a possessive tense, and vice-versa, in another language and see how far you get.
Speaking 4 languages is something to be proud of. And grammar mistakes happen. Especially if you're learning a language from other native speakers and way too many native speakers make that same mistake. I've had to unlearn bad grammar that I learned from native speakers and it does piss me off if someone is a jerk about it. Just correct and move on, no need to be condescending.
Some people know and speak 4 languages (take my poor grandma’s experience of learning laanguages for scratch because of marraige) because of which at least 2 or 3 of them are not spoken with fluent grammar.
Love this one. So true. A lot of people who aren’t native English speakers will make these kinds of mistakes. Knowing the difference between your and you’re isn’t a huge accomplishment but being multilingual is.
In places like Switzerland, knowing 2+ languages doesn't make you special, nor is it considered a huge accomplishment. It's the culture, man.
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The only language I know is english and for goodness sake, i talk like i took four duolingo lessons on it an hour before i met up with you.
If you're having trouble with your and you're, you're not fluent.
What’s the point in being fluent in 4 languages if you can’t write them correctly?
Consider Instagram. The platform focuses on images, the perfect breeding ground for the infamous humblebrag. "Selfies, the bread and butter of the network, are a source of bragging in their own right. But to downplay this outright display of narcissism, they are now combined with heartfelt captions," Batty said.
What She Said: Happy Mother’s Day, Ugly!
"You gave birth to a dynamite". Luckily it didn't blow up in her face.
Girl I Went To School With Always Posts Dumb Things Like This
Humblebrag
why is catcalling immpressive? its usually creepy old men jackin off in allyways?
Self Explanatory
"Look at this amazing shot of me where my skin and hair are flawless! But oops, I actually wanted to talk about how life is a struggle and being a social media influencer isn't all it's cracked up to be... #selfcare #love #mentalhealth." Sounds familiar? That's probably because you've seen this post a million times.
*my Wife- That's Amazing
Floyd Mayweather The King Of The Humblebrag
Way to take a proud moment in your son’s life and make it about you. My mom would be so proud.
Everybody Wants To Do Me Lmao!
"In a move to take some of the market share from Snapchat, Instastories also became part of the platform in 2016. These 24-hour windows provided a wealth of opportunities for a quick snappy humble brag (that disappears, so it’s all good). 'Oh, look at me with all my friends at this party! I should be studying for my law degree (at Harvard, whoops!) #FML #lifeishard.'"
Poor Guy
How Would I Know?
Hope Its A Good One
The term itself was coined by the comedian Harris Wittels, a writer for the NBC series “Parks and Recreation,” who collects hundreds of these cockeyed chestnuts on his Twitter feed and in his new book, both called “Humblebrag.”
Don’t Mind Me Just Getting My Iphones Mixed Up
He Wasn't Event Trying To Flex, Guys. He's Just That Rich
Weird Flex But Okay
Don't Be Too Humble
I Wish I Could Be Unhealthy But I’m Just Too Fit!
Can’t Relate
Phew!! That Was A Close One
Guys She's Struggling With Finding Herself
I think you should unite your parents' affiliations and be an English patient.
$4000 A Day? How Will He Eat?
Yeah...the Switch Makes It Enjoyable
Oh Such Agony
I’m Sure Your Sister Appreciates That Post
“Check Out How Many Guys Want Me!”
Mom, You're Making My Life So Hard!!
Girl On My Facebook
She Is Fed Up With All The Guys Giving Her Business Cards
If he gives you his business card, he probably wants to do business. And 3 clients in a month is pretty lame.
“I’m An Actor”
Note: this post originally had 88 images. It’s been shortened to the top 50 images based on user votes.
Wow. Just wow. I don't think many posts make me feel sick, cringe and laugh all at the same time.
A few of these exemplify why I never discuss any of my atypical attributes with people I don't know. No matter what it is, no matter how inconsequential those traits might be, someone is going to interpret it as bragging. Though most of those were pretty blatantly just attention-whoring...
Agree but part of the point is to be socially / self aware enough to know appropriate venues for talking about atypical / fancy traits of yours. Of course there’s also a limit to that. People are so jealous and in such struggle / pain that they will see a person doing well and automatically label that person a braggart. In which case there’s no justification in hiding your atypical or expensive things just to make someone feel better.
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Title is wrong. More like Two Times People “Humble bragged” and Got Shamed for it, plus 48 times nobody said sh¡t about it.”
Yes, exactly. I'm looking at half of them wondering where the shaming comments are. There is one (about 3 year old saying words don't die) and there IS a picture where someone has replied "that didn't happen" but it's not here. What's going on with Bored Panda these days?
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nobody:........ the girls who are 100x better than me in art class: omg look at this self portrait it's so bad lol
It makes me sad to see how many attention-seekers there are on social media... social media platforms have sure enabled a lot of people to over-share (mostly a load of b*llocks).
Right!? The only social media I bother with, other than BP, is Instagram. You'd have to really dig through my account to find a picture of me because 95% of my content is my madcap assortment of rescue animals and my kids. I couldn't tell you how many followers I have because I genuinely don't care. I feel so bad for people whose self worth depends on 'likes'. It must be a truly miserable existence.
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Humble braggers suck, not just because they're putting effort into pretending not to brag, but also because they just make everyone else feel bad for being poor, not living up to beauty standards, ect.
Wonderful. Another post of "Someone does something or says something stupid and the internet shames them for it.." I hope a mob gets these people fired and destroys their lives for doing something stupid. Actually, I didn't read the article. I have enough toxicity in my life without reading another of these painful shaming posts. But, it seems the world tilts towards public shaming. Too bad we dismantled the stocks.
Isn't almost every single post on Instagram or Facebook a humble brag though? "Look at this selfie of me eating a bagel. Now upvote and tell me I'm pretty and quirky!"
They really be trying to act cool so others could get a reaction to their stupidity. Bull****.
It's like when a kid gets in the pool and mom is distracted so the kid does "tricks" to get her to look. "MOM LOOK MOM!! I DID A HANDSTAND! ARE YA LOOKIN? LOOK I CAN FLOAT! MOOMMMMMM!!!??" Pretty much the same thing lol
I think I'd far rather live the very simple, very quiet life I do than to have to make up tales that others can see through. In this day and age of the faster-than-lightning speed of most of the Internet, where lies can be proven to be just that, why say things that aren't true? Just a rhetorical question, not one worth answering.
I could read only 50. (yes I'm bragging) . Too much to handle this need to be superior.
I rolled my eyes so many times at these posts I feel like I might be cross eyed now
It has actually become really popular for people to brag about their wealth. Younger audiences love it and I have no idea why. People that flaunt expensive houses and cars, even straight up pictures with a ton of cash get a ton of followers. Like the freaking Kardashians, people are just super into this sort of thing and I don't get it.
I'd say that if someone buys a homeless person food just to brag about it on social media, brag away! The homeless person has food they wouldn't otherwise have = good! (Then there are the a-holes that are lying about their "charity", eff them.) Edit: just to make clear: I'm not saying the bragger is a nice person (far from it) but they brought good to the world on that instance, no matter the motives.
Wow. Just wow. I don't think many posts make me feel sick, cringe and laugh all at the same time.
A few of these exemplify why I never discuss any of my atypical attributes with people I don't know. No matter what it is, no matter how inconsequential those traits might be, someone is going to interpret it as bragging. Though most of those were pretty blatantly just attention-whoring...
Agree but part of the point is to be socially / self aware enough to know appropriate venues for talking about atypical / fancy traits of yours. Of course there’s also a limit to that. People are so jealous and in such struggle / pain that they will see a person doing well and automatically label that person a braggart. In which case there’s no justification in hiding your atypical or expensive things just to make someone feel better.
Load More Replies... Title is wrong. More like Two Times People “Humble bragged” and Got Shamed for it, plus 48 times nobody said sh¡t about it.”
Yes, exactly. I'm looking at half of them wondering where the shaming comments are. There is one (about 3 year old saying words don't die) and there IS a picture where someone has replied "that didn't happen" but it's not here. What's going on with Bored Panda these days?
Load More Replies... nobody:........ the girls who are 100x better than me in art class: omg look at this self portrait it's so bad lol
It makes me sad to see how many attention-seekers there are on social media... social media platforms have sure enabled a lot of people to over-share (mostly a load of b*llocks).
Right!? The only social media I bother with, other than BP, is Instagram. You'd have to really dig through my account to find a picture of me because 95% of my content is my madcap assortment of rescue animals and my kids. I couldn't tell you how many followers I have because I genuinely don't care. I feel so bad for people whose self worth depends on 'likes'. It must be a truly miserable existence.
Load More Replies... Humble braggers suck, not just because they're putting effort into pretending not to brag, but also because they just make everyone else feel bad for being poor, not living up to beauty standards, ect.
Wonderful. Another post of "Someone does something or says something stupid and the internet shames them for it.." I hope a mob gets these people fired and destroys their lives for doing something stupid. Actually, I didn't read the article. I have enough toxicity in my life without reading another of these painful shaming posts. But, it seems the world tilts towards public shaming. Too bad we dismantled the stocks.
Isn't almost every single post on Instagram or Facebook a humble brag though? "Look at this selfie of me eating a bagel. Now upvote and tell me I'm pretty and quirky!"
They really be trying to act cool so others could get a reaction to their stupidity. Bull****.
It's like when a kid gets in the pool and mom is distracted so the kid does "tricks" to get her to look. "MOM LOOK MOM!! I DID A HANDSTAND! ARE YA LOOKIN? LOOK I CAN FLOAT! MOOMMMMMM!!!??" Pretty much the same thing lol
I think I'd far rather live the very simple, very quiet life I do than to have to make up tales that others can see through. In this day and age of the faster-than-lightning speed of most of the Internet, where lies can be proven to be just that, why say things that aren't true? Just a rhetorical question, not one worth answering.
I could read only 50. (yes I'm bragging) . Too much to handle this need to be superior.
I rolled my eyes so many times at these posts I feel like I might be cross eyed now
It has actually become really popular for people to brag about their wealth. Younger audiences love it and I have no idea why. People that flaunt expensive houses and cars, even straight up pictures with a ton of cash get a ton of followers. Like the freaking Kardashians, people are just super into this sort of thing and I don't get it.
I'd say that if someone buys a homeless person food just to brag about it on social media, brag away! The homeless person has food they wouldn't otherwise have = good! (Then there are the a-holes that are lying about their "charity", eff them.) Edit: just to make clear: I'm not saying the bragger is a nice person (far from it) but they brought good to the world on that instance, no matter the motives.
