The Spotlight Effect: Center of Attention

Spotlight effect: Do you ever sometimes feel as if you’re in the spotlight?

Let’s imagine these situations. A question was asked by your teacher or mentor but you couldn’t respond. You missed a step while performing or fell down while walking. You said something “dumb” while conversing.

Various thoughts may come to your head. You might think that “everyone’s attention is on me.” They must be talking or making fun of my mistakes. I would seem dumb or way too clumsy”. This is exactly what the spotlight effect does. It leads people into believing they are being noticed more than they really are.

You may have seen it especially during the adolescent ages. A single pimple appearing on your face might make you self-conscious. Making you believe people are going to notice and turn you into a laughing joke. But in reality, no one might even mention a word about it.

This spotlight effect can lead to overthinking and oftentimes makes you anxious to try out new stuff.

Being aware, as I always say, is the first step towards overcoming it. You most likely are overestimating the extent to which people notice. People are busy among themselves and are usually more concerned with themselves to even care that much about a small mistake! Just take a breather and ponder what it would be like if the roles were reversed. You are likely to find out that you can’t even seem to remember if there was a pimple on someone’s face or they couldn’t answer a question. No one will seem to remember the stain on the dress you wore or the type of answer you failed to answer. Well except maybe your friends to tease you about it in good will!

Sometimes you may see people saying “s/he is looking at me”, “they smiled at me”, “they keep on coming here just to meet me”. They might say this with every person they see even if it weren’t the case. This is another aspect of the spotlight effect where you believe that everyone notices you and wants to be with you. You might believe that a person acts this way just because he/she likes me. If someone is passing by for some other purpose but another person believes that s/he is passing by for them, then this is the spotlight effect.

You need to make yourself understand that you are not the center of attention. Getting rid of those negative thoughts by reminding yourself this can help greatly.

Don’t be afraid to try out new things; to make small mistakes: to do what you want to do. Don’t be afraid of what people think about you. Be confident in yourself. Be yourself

Photo by Luis Morera on Unsplash