The Imaginary Audience?

Beginning in early adolescence, kids experience a common feeling that they have an imaginary audience—a very real sense that “everyone’s looking at me.”  I remember how painful that was, especially given how much time I spent on my hair in the late 80′s.

The new question has become, is that audience actually imaginary?

New research highlighted in recent articles like “Stupid Teenage Tricks, for a Virtual Audience,” wonders aloud if the perpetual availability of online and mobile self-broadcasting is also boosting risk-taking behaviors. In other words, are teenagers taking more risks because they can post their outcomes online, or are we just able to see more of this stuff because of new media?  Researchers like Dr. Megan A. Moreno, an adolescent medicine specialist at the University of Wisconsin, are observing:

For kids in middle school, a really normal part of that is the perception that you’re on stage, and that everybody is looking at you. But for kids today it’s a different world they’re growing up in. It’s a world where there really is that audience.

Research continues to affirm that risk-taking is biologically inherent to adolescence. This Futurity article notes that the brain’s neurotransmitter system is hardwired to reward kids for risk-taking because it might turn out well (you know—fun, exciting, and maybe someone will watch it on YouTube and I’ll become the next viral sensation).

Case in point this week: Abby Sunderland’s attempt at world-circumnavigation (and critiques like this one of the parental responsibilities of risk-taking “superkids”). The grand irony, of course, is that we’re all watching her.  And the fact that her boat’s mast was snapped by 25-foot waves in a remote ocean storm—leading to a highly-publicized search-and-rescue mission—means she is receiving even more of a “real” audience to reward her efforts than if she’d made it around the globe without a glitch.

So what do you think: How does the shift from imaginary to “real” (even if virtual) audience impact adolescent risk-taking?  And what kinds of conversations can we have with kids about it?

©2010 Fuller Youth Institute