As a society and generationally we all have had our fair share of obsessing over celebrities and influencers relationships. We become so invested when being a part of someone’s fandom or personal life. It is as if we have put ourselves in the equation, resulting in parasocial relationships.
Parasocial relationships are one-sided and can evolve into unhealthy obsessions, full of emotional disturbance affecting one individual. It is common in celebrities and influencers who people become attached to due to someone’s feelings about them exceeding their expectations. However, things are blurred because obsession is not a healthy relationship.
These parasocial relationships have transpired because of social media allowing 24-hour entry into celebrities’ daily lives. It’s an open window for anyone to stalk and obsess, which creates an immense amount of danger for the individual’s mental health.
According to a study conducted by Singapore Management University regarding intimate relationships between audiences and celebrities, “Parasocial relationships arise when individuals are repeatedly exposed to a media persona, and the individuals develop a sense of intimacy, perceived friendship, and identification with the celebrity.”
This exemplifies the reasoning behind how parasocial relationships begin. They are identified by this process, which allows a gateway to open between everyday people and celebrities. The overall presence social media has on people is scary and creates an atmosphere where obsessive tendencies can occur.
NSU’s Associate Professor of Psychology in the department of psychology and neuroscience Weylin Sternglanz, shares his insights of how he views the two sides of parasocial relationships.
“Well, parasocial relationships are kind of a good thing, because maybe they’re helping the people who might feel a little lonely or socially isolated and actually from what I’ve seen, researchers actually think it’s more likely to be that direction. So, in most cases, they think parasocial relationships are not that harmful, and that they’re kind of helpful to people who feel very socially isolated, which of course a lot of us did during this time of social isolation during COVID-19,” said Sternglanz.
Sternglanz highlights the positive effects of how parasocial relationships affect individuals. His points are very valuable and speak volume when it comes to how isolated people may be feeling towards these relationships, which provide comfort for introverted people during some of the worst times of their lives.
However, he also said, “It’s only I think a bad thing if it becomes pathological, like if you were to develop the illusion that some celebrity that you have an apparent social one-sided parasocial relationship with.”
Parasocial relationships can be a danger to individuals given this factor, which can involve the potential of stalking, obsessing and has a negative connotation surrounding its overall nature. When people start to take things to extreme it fuels the argument and raises questions as to what side of parasocial relationships is the most valid.
NSU’s Assistant Professor of Social Psychology in the department of psychology and neuroscience, Justin Landy, shares his professional opinion on parasocial relationships from a social psychological perspective.
“When we feel bad about ourselves and we know this from a lot of research, we go seek out relationships. We will kind of do what we need to do to be included and to feel that we belong, and if we’re seeking out these one-sided kind of illusory relationships, that doesn’t strike me as the best solution,” Landy said.
Landy raises a valuable position regarding the reasoning behind why people will seek these relationships. Not to mention, self-esteem plays a huge role when discussing these one-sided relationships. We take into account how people feel and view themselves, which makes individuals more aware as to why they look for these types of relationships.
Parasocial relationships are a toss-up between either of them being helpful or harmful, given their complicated nature and the psychology surrounding the one-sided relationships. However, when it comes down to it, they are what we make them, and it all depends on the individuals that seek them out.
