Almost 70 Pct of Young Japanese Feel Stress from Gaze of Others

October 12, 2018

Tokyo- Nearly 70 pct of young people in Japan feel stressed when they are under the gaze of other people, a survey by Mandom Corp. has shown.

The Osaka-based cosmetics maker said the result may reflect the spread of communication via social media, which does not require users to come into face-to-face contact.

The poll, conducted online in August, covered 1,091 people aged 15-59.

According to the survey, 56.5 pct of all respondents said they often or sometimes feel stressed from people looking at them. The proportion of respondents in their 10s and 20s who gave the same answer came to 67.6 pct.

Moreover, 61.8 pct of respondents in their 10s and 20s said they have felt scared by the gaze of other people, exceeding the proportion of those aged between 30 and 59 who provided the same answer by some 25 percentage points. In particular, the proportion of female respondents in their teens who said they have frequently felt frightened of other people looking at them stood at 38.5 pct.

As means of deepening friendship with others, 31.5 pct of respondents in their 10s and 20s cited Line and other messaging apps, much higher than the percentage of those in their 40s and 50s who picked messaging apps, at 10.1 pct. Jiji Press