By Alex Fleksher

Being rich, famous, or talented isn’t as easy as it appears. Just ask star Emma Watson. “It’s been 10 years but I still feel so uncomfortable with being recognized. Just a bit shy still I suppose,” she wrote on Twitter. Or ask former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer, who tweeted, “They just announced my flight at LaGuardia is number 15 for takeoff. I miss Air Force One!!,” referring to the president’s airplane. But somehow it’s hard to sympathize with these celebrities who humblebrag about their accomplishments.

A humblebrag is a comment that makes you sound awesome without the accompanying guilt of bragging. The term was coined by Harris Wittels, a writer for NBC’s “Parks and Recreation,” who created a Twitter feed for humble brags, retweeting celebrities as well as ordinary people. Take, for example, this humblebrag tweeted by actress Ashley Judd: “Awkward moment: boarding a sold-out flight and hearing the flight attendant announce the in-flight movie is one of mine.” 

Should we feel badly for Ms. Judd, feeling so awkward hearing the news that she herself will be featured on the airplane movie? Or Ms. Watson, the famous actress from the Harry Potter movies, who still feels uncomfortable being a movie star? Or Mr. Fleischer, who is forced to wait on line like the rest of us?

Humblebrags can be humorous to post, whether on Twitter, Facebook, or blogs. They allow the humblebragger to complain in a show-offy way.  And sometimes a person might post a message without even meaning to humblebrag, yet the reader is left feeling annoyed nonetheless. “What I hate about the humble brag,” Wittels told the Wall Street Journal, “is that people try to come off like they aren’t bragging. It’s people not being honest about their intention.”

Then what is their intention? “It’s people wanting other people to envy them,” said Wittels.  “I have realized that people do most things so they can tell other people about it. It’s all validation.”

With a humblebrag from a famous person, we may roll our eyes and move on. But what about when a friend flaunts a humblebrag as their status update on Facebook?

“They think they are doing you a favor by not saying how they feel straight out,” explains Rachel, 17, from Cleveland, Ohio. “In the end, it just makes you feel worse.” Rachel’s classmate concurs: “When people humblebrag they are just fishing for compliments. The complaint they are bragging about should be their worst problem in life!”