The Plague of The Imaginary Audience

Today in my segment of the Health Science and Wellness part of the school newspaper, we will talk about the psychological phenomenon known as the imaginary audience. Picture this: you just bought a new outfit you want to show off to the whole school. You walk through the hall strutting in your garment though suddenly kids down the hall began whispering, laughing, and even looking at you funny. In your brain, it immediately thinks they must be laughing at us! That is where the imaginary audience comes into play. The imaginary audience is where kids begin to doubt themselves, feel self-conscious, and think they are what people are evaluating.

I asked some of Howard Middle School's students if they've ever felt the phenomenon known as the imaginary audience. I asked the two students Brendan Sheehan and Marcus Stubin if they've ever felt the effects of the imaginary audience. I was curious if Marcus ever thought people were laughing at him or evaluating him when he was walking down the halls of our school. What he said was this.

"I don't feel like people are watching me, it's just the concept that people are listening and can hear you anytime. I could just focus on a conversation and hear what they are saying. So it's almost like anyone could be watching."

I also talked to Brendan to see his output on the situation.

"I don't think I'm directly affected by it but sometimes I will wonder when I see people down the hall laughing when something in my brain always thinks. Was it about me? The phenomenon is hard to explain."

While interviewing two students is good, why not interview more to get a good grip on whether this is a plague affecting our school and possibly other middle schools. Asking two seventh graders is fine but what about two eight graders? Let’s try to figure out if this doesn’t only affect one grade. The 8th graders Shiloh Majidi, and Andrew Pennachio were a huge help in figuring this out.

I started with asking Shiloh.

“I feel it a lot, it still hurts you. Even if it’s not somebody talking about you specifically it still makes you wonder what they are talking about. You can never really know one hundred percent.”

And here was Andrew’s response.

“Yes, I have felt the effects of the imaginary audience but it’s important to remember that I'm not the center of all the attention of others.”

Now that I have got two good responses from two eight graders and two seventh graders I decided it was time to ask some questions to our sixth graders. The two six graders I questioned were Sheniff, and Trey (They preferred not to have their last names given). I decided to start with Trey and his response was as follows.

“I kind of have, I feel it happens sometimes and I have social anxiety. So that’s more why it affects me.”

Then i asked Sheniff.

“Yes I have felt the effects of this, i wouldn’t say it’s a big problem though because, well that’s a tough one to explain.”

I asked two students in every grade at this school and these were their responses so is this a big problem? Well with the evidence gathered up it seems that it is a big problem. From the kids I interviewed 83.3% of the students said they’ve felt the effects of this phenomenon.