In 2024, Forbes.com released a report exploring the impact of social media on the relationships of young adults, including interpersonal boundaries, conflict resolution, and attachment to others. Researchers have also studied the impact of social media on intrapersonal concepts, such as the imaginary audience. For example, a 2024 study in the International Journal of Mental Health Promotion found a positive correlation between social media usage and both imaginary audience and social anxiety. This result is consistent with a 2021 study in the journal of Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, which found that high social media use produced heightened neural activity during self-judgements as compared to reflected-peer-judgements. The authors of this study argued that the findings suggested that social media produces a not-so-imaginary audience.
The Imaginary Audience
In the 1960’s, a developmental psychologist named David Elkind coined the term imaginary audience to describe how young adults often assume that they are constantly being watched and judged by others. At heightened levels, young adults may become preoccupied with how they’re being perceived by others and behave as if they are always performing regarding their appearance, social interactions, achievements. etc.
According to a 2025 report on Handspringhealth.com, the imaginary audience might be the most recognizable feature of adolescent egocentrism. During this stage of development, young adults are developing their own identity, which results in increased sensitivity with how others view them. Because of the imaginary audience, many young adults might avoid social situations, engage in perfectionistic tendencies, and experience social anxiety because they believe that they’re constantly being scrutinized.
The Significant Impact of Social Media
Challenging the assumption about the need to perform for others is a key factor in reducing the imaginary audience. However, according to a 2021 report by the American Psychological Association, social media sites can reinforce performative behaviors, such as seeking likes and views, as well as comparing self to other accounts. These behaviors reflect the dynamic that there’s a real audience on social media that can view and judge a person’s life at any given time. As highlighted by the report on Forbes.com, the combination of anonymity with a general lack of accountability in social media can result in users acting aggressively and cyberbullying others. Those who struggle with the imaginary audience are likely to have difficulty coping with these behaviors.
Another important consideration is that social media allows young adults to be audience members for others. This might create an unhealthy cycle in which young adults view the performative behaviors of others, which increases their own performative behaviors, which increases their anxiety about being perceived by others.
Implications of Social Media Impacting The Imaginary Audience
As indicated in the report on Handspringhealth.com, struggles with the imaginary audience and adolescent egocentrism might impact mental health. Fear of an imaginary audience can be an underlying theme for conditions such as anxiety and depression. However, it’s not standard practice for therapists to assess clients’ use of social media. As such, mental professionals might miss a key contributing factor, especially while serving young adults. A possible reference for therapists is a 2024 report by Counseling Today Archive, which detailed ways to help clients develop a healthy relationship with social media.
Furthermore, many parents are concerned that social media might expose their children to explicit content or dangerous strangers. However, it may also be important for parents to consider the emotions that children experience because of social media. For many young adults, the struggle with the imaginary audience resolves naturally with development, but, as studies suggest, the use of social media is an important factor.
