Do you like having eyes follow you?

I love it! Living in China for a summer and being “6’2.5” and 275lbs, I always have eyes on me! It’s awesome! If you ever want to feel like a celebrity, visit China!

@Schroedes13 Do they just come up and stop and stare politely for a good five minutes? Like it’s a normal thing?

I’ve felt as though someone’s watching me before. I don’t like it.

Being the centre of attention while speaking to a group or in another situation where it’s warranted – that’s okay. If I’m addressing a group, I’d much rather they all look at me than ignore me.

With respect to @Schroedes13‘s response, I’ve had that experience before as well. I spent a month in Japan and while I was there, my hair was platinum blonde. Asian hair doesn’t bleach very well, so no one had hair like mine. People would stare a lot and ask to take their picture with me all the time. There must be at least a hundred people in Japan with photos of me :) For what it’s worth, that didn’t bug me at all. They were legitimately interested, so it wasn’t creepy.

@atlantis some will just stare blantantly at you as you walk by. Some will even come up at ask for a picture with you! It’s awesome! Kids will sometimes try to measure how tall they are compared to you!

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with me physically or on the immediate surface. So if strangers were looking at me, I would wonder what the heck they found so appealing or unappealing to look at in the first place.

If it was co workers or people I knew, I would feel a little more uncomfortable because i would be wondering what they thought of me, like my work ethic, if they agree with my ideas (if I’m making some presentation) etc.

You enter a room and all eyes turn towards you. The room parts as you walk through. The room parting is over the top for me and just made me uncomfortable. I picture this scenerio as being accompanied with the room falling silent. I do like to be noticed or glanced at when I walk in, but not to the point that people stop conversation or drastically change their position.

You walk down the street and feel the eyes following you. Scary.

You stand up in a meeting to talk, and everyone’s attention is on you. If I am going to be talking at a meeting, they better give their attention to me.

@Schroedes13 Why do you enjoy that attention?

@wundayatta I’m an extrovert at heart! I love being the life of the party and having people acknowledge me! That’s the only explanation I can give!

There are looks and there are looks. I don’t mind the first kind but I am easily embarrassed.

I am very good at ignoring people who stare.
If they keep it up,I will say hello.I often carry a camera with me and will not hesitate to snap a picture of someone doing that. XD

I like it if it’s not for a ridiculous amount of time. If I think people are looking at me too long I’ll just stare right back at them. Most of the time it makes them look away after a moment.

I HATE IT!
Its most of the times brings down my self esteem. Though if its on a good day that I feel pretty and everything then its okay because I enjoy it hahaha
As of would I like to have more of that attention… not really.

If Scenarios #1 and #2 were to happen, I’d check to make sure that my blouse wasn’t unbuttoned or there wasn’t toilet paper trailing behind me.

As for Scenario #3, I’m fine with it. In fact, if they aren’t engaged in the presentation or discussion, then it becomes a concern. Is it a tacit way to say that they don’t agree with the subject? Do they already buy into the material? Is there something happening in their personal life that has them distracted? Is the presentation too dull? There were times when I would quietly pull a participant aside during a break and ask them about it. I always got honest, helpful answers that helped me customize the discussion or just let it go.

1. I like it for a total of 10 seconds because they are acknowledging my walking in there and a few smiles, all OK; more than that and I hate it because I become conscious of how I look, how I move, etc.

2. It happens and it’s OK. Some people smile and I smile back sometimes. Now eyes following me it’s another ball game altogether, I start panicking. Why are you starring at me? Are you going to attack me or something? Both creepy and threatening. (I live in a very dangerous city. We avoid starring at one another).

3. I am a teacher, if my student’s attention is not on me, then we all have a problem.

@Schroedes13 We had the same experience in China. My husband was 6’2’’ and had a red beard. My son was 6’1’’ and had shoulder-length curly hair. My daughter was 5’11”” and a blond. Every time we stopped to figure out where to go we were surrounded by curious Chinese. We’d grin and say “Ni hao” and they’d grin back. Usually there was someone who spoke English if we needed help. Nice, openly curious people.

No! That totally freaks me out. I do not like being the center of attention (unless it’s my SO’s attention). I’ve had some experiences with semi-stalkers where I used to work, so I do not like it one bit.

… That only happens when I dress in one of my… eccentric outfits. ;)

@Sunny2 Ya the Chinese are very curious, but truly helpful. Very courteous and polite usually too!

You enter a room and all eyes turn towards you. The room parts as you walk through.

Only on my wedding day. I loved it but normally I hate being the center of attention. I prefer being the center of one person’s attnetion. That is amazing and very very welcome.

You walk down the street and feel the eyes following you.

I have never had this experience because I am not a supermodel. I have always wondered what that might feel like. I think it would feel pretty good. Although having it all the time I am sure it would grow tiresome. If it did happen to me I would wonder if there was something weird about me that was attracting all this attention.

You stand up in a meeting to talk, and everyone’s attention is on you.

I want them to pay attention to me of course. Hopefully I am well prepared. If well prepared, I am more confident. I am very attuned to people’s expressions as I talk, so I sense if I am being well received or not. Just polite attention is not very encouraging to me. I need an enthusiastic response or I start to flounder and feel discouraged. I try to hide this but I am not very good at keeping up a fake facade.

I love it! Attention is amazing for my confidence.

However, at one point there was this rumor floating around about me, and suddenly the attention felt less admiring and more judging. The room would also become silent, as in @JLeslie‘s post, and I knew they had been talking about me. I suppose I should appreciate that they had the courtesy not to gossip about me in my presence. I suddenly wanted to blend in.

I hate it. I seek refuge in the corner and observe. To me, silence is a lost art and anonymity is underestimated as a tool to learn. There are too many attention seekers on the planet. If they turned attention and their eyes to those in need we would be a lot better off as a society. Unfortunately the loudmouth and boor seem to be popular.

too many attention seekers? frig…..I thought the attention seekers were the ones to go out and get things done.

Yeah, like the Kardashians, Glenn Beck, Octomom, the people on Celebrity Rehab, Sarah Palin, the people from Jackass. They really get things done.

I think it is really easy to use examples of people who seek attention in negative ways. Not everyone who likes attention goes around making a jerk of themselves. Don’t demonize people just because they are not the same as you.