parasocial relationships
The rise of technology and its easy accessibility has led to a wave of attachment with random strangers on the internet.
People nowadays lack the sense of not thinking about their digital footprint. Yes the internet has been a blessing to us in many ways but sure everything has its own downside.
For those of us who don’t know what a parasocial relationship is .. here is the definition for you
“It is a one sided psychological bond where one person spends their everything onto someone who doesn’t even know they exist”
The stalking
The scary part about having a parasocial relationship is the harm done on the other side of the story , the celebrity , the influencer , the singer all of them or even a random stranger on the internet can and will face negative repercussions.
These people have no idea how someone is so fixated onto them that they now every part of your routine to the fact you would feel like you don’t know that much about you yourself
The unrealistic expectation
The feeling of knowing someone but them not doing anything encouraging to you specifically while not releasing the fact they have never met you can become scary when it starts to grow on them and… it doesn’t lead to a road with a good end.
Loneliness epidemic
The lonelier the individual the higher the emotion to seek connection to someone , the birth of parasocial relationships.
Now people would think why choose someone who doesn’t even and would never know they exist ?
Well that’s the answer in itself the person mostly referred to as the admirer chooses the one who doesn’t know them because its far much easy to be in a relation with them also think like this
Would it be difficult to get to know someone first, spend money on them, have expectations to do something all the time or get fascinated with someone whom u can think of as however you want and in return u have to do nothing to please them ?
The obsession
Have you ever thought if that’s the case with today then why do these internet famous people still do fan services ?
Kpop ? heard of that ? well if u didnt you should because if you want to know what a parasocial relationship looks like, you have got to meet an idol obsessed fan
Not all of them but a lot of them are crazy over their idols and sometimes it creates a lot of over the boundary stuff u could never imagine
At this point you could not even name a single idol who has never been stalked to their own house or hotel.but then why .. Why don’t companies do anything about it? Well that leads us to the next point.
The network
These companies behind them benefit from such harm to society.
The more the fans obsess over them, until their pockets get filled they are happy with it.
Responsibility
To be fair, people who don’t view social media stars or any artist just for who they are, get trapped within the circle of parasocial relations.
We have got to take responsibility for our own. We need to take a step and have to prioritize ourselves first.
No app is going to tell you to log off, and no influencer is going to tell you to stop caring so much about them.
The media they present should be a choice to consume rather than a substitute for community.
We all seek face to face connection. It’s a part of being human and thus it can be confusing sometimes when you have a friend talking to you sitting right across the table or a creator talking to the camera on your phone a few inches away from your face.
These different connections sometimes hamper how we think of the one in your phone and if you didn’t have clear boundaries to your name. This piece of entertainment can become an obsession.
We need to stop investing ourselves into people who only see us as a view count. Yes, having a favourite creator is completely normal but when you start to go overboard over them you need to take a step back and see if you view them as a media for your pastime, someone to look up to as a role model or a motivator or a lot more than that.
If you seek true connection you need to invest in people who are there for you right in front of you.
Conclusion
While it is easy to feel deeply connected to someone through the screen, it is crucial to remember that a curated online persona is not a substitute for mutual, real world connection.
The goal should not be to eliminate these digital bonds, but to ground them in reality.
While actively investing time, energy, and empathy into our tangible, offline communities then we can reap the benefits of inspiration from a distance without losing touch with the connection right in front of us.