Something that has been around for many years but is greatly increasing in recent years is the concept of parasocial relationships. It’s truly so intriguing to me because of how common these relationships are on minor scales, but also on large scales too. The kicker is, most people don’t even realize that they themselves are partaking in a parasocial relationship.
Before I go on too far, I should probably share what a parasocial relationship actually is. By definition, parasocial relationships are “one-sided relationships, where one person extends emotional energy, interest and time, and the other party, the persona, is completely unaware of the other’s existence”. These relationships most commonly involve those being in one-sided relationships with celebrities, organizations (such as sports teams,) or television stars.
Now let’s rewind back to when I said that many of us have these relationships on smaller scales. You may be thinking, Lauren, what the heck this is so crazy and odd I obviously don’t have a parasocial relationship with anyone because I’m normal. Well, I hate to break it to you but that tie you feel to a specific character in your favorite tv show or movie could be a parasocial relationship. These relationships used to be most common with television personalities where fans would think that they knew the celebrity/character well enough to where they either consciously or subconsciously felt an emotional connection to them as if they actually knew them in person. In the era of digital media, it’s so easy to know so much about online personalities to the point where you know them as well as one of their friends, or at least it seems like it. In the past, parasocial relationships occurred predominantly with television personas. Now, these relationships also occur between individuals and their favorite bloggers, social media users, and gamers. Reality television and self created online content (made by streamers/youtubers) allow viewers to share the most intimate and personal lives of television personas and content creators, and celebrities openly share their opinions and activities through various social media outlets such as twitter and instagram.
Some controversies have even been created with different online content creators and celebrities in regard to them saying that they “love” their fans and supporters. Many say that phrases like this are playing off of parasocial relationships since the celebrity can’t truly love their fans since they don’t know them personally at all. They can appreciate their support, but not “love” them.
Parasocial relationships are also extremely popular within online communities on social media, and this may be due to the increased sense of “knowing” the personas, or the perception of parasocial interactions as having a high reward and virtually no chance of rejection since the persona has no idea of the other person’s existence. Individuals with parasocial relationships also often express appreciation towards their favorite personas for helping them to get through tough times. Additionally, some viewers perceive the personas as helping to significantly shape their own identity.
Since we are in the age of social media, and in quarantine are constantly consuming media content, the lack of in person social relationships and increased consumption of content from digital creators and celebrities have been creating extreme parasocial relationships. So extreme to the point where people are growing great dependencies on people who simply don’t even know they exist. Listen, it’s perfectly okay to be a fan of a certain actor or singer or whoever you want, but when it gets to the point where an emotional dependency or connection is formed, it has turned parasocial.
I urge whoever’s reading this to just take a minute to reflect and think, do I just really like this certain celebrity or am I in a borderline parasocial relationship with them?
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