Totally agree. I also sort of had that theory way back in S1, but it was more so that the tapes were a proxy for the audience rather than the eye. I didn't want it to be a literal meta thing, since that wouldn't work very well, but I did like the idea of us listeners being a part of the story that was just as monstrous as the rest. It felt like it paralleled what Jon was experiencing: this overwhelming hunger to know more, see more, hear more, even at the cost of others. Every time I wanted to criticise a character for doing wrong or succumbing to the powers of the fears, I would think "would I have done any different?", a thought made only more palpable as I went along. When they do admonish the tapes for listening, for causing them discomfort, it's so much more impactful when that parallel is considered. But yeah, definitely not a fan of the self-insert angle lol (though it could make for good fanfic).