And this observation does have empirical backing and is known as the “Spotlight Effect”. The more careful definition of it (which I agree is not the point of th

And this observation does have empirical backing and is known as the “Spotlight Effect”. The more careful definition of it (which I agree is not the point of the pithy story) is “People tend to overestimate the degree to which others notice them and their failings.” (Caveat that I haven’t looked into how deeply this has survived the psych and social psych replication crisis)