Definition: Someone pathologically addicted to external validation, performing exhausting mental gymnastics to harvest praise, likes, or even pity from anyone within earshot or scroll-distance. They’ll twist themselves into human pretzels of people-pleasing, humblebragging, or manufactured crises just to feel the warm fuzzies of approval. Their self-worth is a slot machine that only pays out when others feed it coins of recognition.
Example: Mark’s an applause junkie who posts “casual” gym selfies captioned “ugh, so unfit 😅” just to bathe in the “KING!” comments. He once cried actual tears because his mom forgot to like his LinkedIn post about making coffee.