The 2020s are a complicated era to live in. The COVID-19 pandemic continues to define everyday life, even after mass vaccination and close to two years of intermittent lockdowns. Sociality has had to evolve to fit the new order of minimal interaction, where everyone is a potential hazard. For many months, the repeated dogma has been that human interaction kills. The impact of this cannot be understated. Human beings are still inexorably social creatures, and when the ability to exercise this intrinsic need is removed or significantly altered, it can only be expected that adaptations be made in order to provide a substitute. It is for this reason that we are approaching an unprecedented time in human society, an age of ‘parasocial’ relationships.
Parasocial relationships have been described as “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.” They are not a new phenomena, being first observed by Horton and Wohl in Mass communication and para-social interaction: Observation on intimacy at a distance (1956). However, the internet has ushered in a new age of parasocial behaviour. No longer are the entertainers that we follow as far removed from us as the celebrities of the past. Streaming sites and social media allow unlimited access to content creators who emulate the experience of social interaction; watching someone in a similar position of social hierarchy talk about their day whilst sitting in their bedroom is a far more intimate and interactive experience than watching, say, a talk show host or a panel show.
The technological era affords individuals the ability to create and interact with media in new and unique ways, bypassing the gatekeeping associated with traditional channels - Image from Pexels
Consumption of this new form of media is now widespread. During the pandemic, the video streaming site YouTube grew significantly, being used by 73% of US adults in 2019 and 81% in 2021. It has also been reported that becoming a ‘YouTuber’ is now the most popular career aspiration amongst children aged 5-7. The app TikTok boasts over one billion users, with top creators amassing follower counts that surpass 100 million. Simultaneously, throughout the COVID-19 era, interaction with friends and peers has been both reduced and transposed into the online space. As Professor Bradley J. Bond, in an interview for psypost states: “[t]he data suggest[s] that the more time we spen[d] communicating with our real-life friends via screens, the stronger we begin to perceive our parasocial relationships with media figures.” In other words, the lines are being blurred between friendship and fandom.
Where healthy relationships are contingent on mutual, voluntary interaction and exchange between individuals, parasocial relationships are not. A quick search shows countless examples of modern creators who have experienced stalking and harassment from fans who believed they deserved more. Just one example is that of YouTuber Bretman Rock’s experience of having fans show up at his father’s funeral uninvited to take photographs with him. Creating distance whilst maintaining an approachable attitude with their audience is a difficult line for modern creators to tread. Glenn Cummins, associate professor of journalism and creative media industries at Texas Tech, stated “[o]n the one hand, they’re saying please stop doing this and on the other hand, they’re saying please like me, please follow me, so it’s mixed signals to say the least. It’s hard to attract an audience and cultivate a following while at the same time, asking that audience respect these limits. ‘Hey, I want you to follow me, just literally not follow me.’’' Fostering a feeling of community and fandom is made far more difficult in the modern era, where some individuals misinterpret personal openness as an invitation for something deeper, or in some cases, more sinister as parasocial attitudes develop.
This is particularly prevalent in parasocial relationships and online sex work. It is no coincidence that during a period where sexual activity has been highly discouraged, and in some cases made illegal for those not living with a partner, parasocial sexual relationships are becoming more prevalent. In 2019 the premium subscription service OnlyFans, popularised by sex workers, was reportedly averaging 24,000 new users per day. By December 2020, it was reporting over 20 times these figures, approximately 500,000 in the same time frame. In an interview for the BBC, Victoria May, an OnlyFans creator wrote of the service "It's not about someone that's just looking for a quick video, like on Pornhub, It's about relationship building." Many users of the site enjoy this interactivity and personalisation, with the ability to request personalised content and message creators. However, this can lead some users to feel entitled as the parasocial relationship takes root. She speaks of one interaction in particular where following her refusal of an unwanted sexual advance, she was faced with death and rape threats from one of her subscribers. This speaks to the entitlement mentality that parasocial relationships can foster in those engaged in them. Creators, artists, and particularly sex workers are at risk of fans misreading effective marketisation and community building as a mutual exchange, with uncomfortable and unwarranted implications.
It can be difficult for both fans and creators to delineate the social and the parasocial in modern online environments - image from I Met You On LJ (https://www.imetyouonljpodcast.com/).
None of this is to say that new media is inherently bad, that consumption of this type of content is fundamentally damaging, or that the creators are in any way inviting this upon themselves. What it does point to, is that there is a dangerous trend amongst certain individuals to take fandom too far, which has been catalysed by the dehumanising social isolation brought about by Coronavirus restrictions. The downside of the modern social climate, where anybody can be a celebrity, is that celebrity status breeds an environment of constant spotlight and scrutiny that many new creators cannot afford and are not prepared for. As they are catapulted into overnight viral success, creators are often unaware of the unreasonable expectations and the probing into personal life that comes with stardom. On the other side of this coin, fans engaging in parasocial relationships can forget that the content creators that they associate with are both entertainers and human beings, with a need for privacy and deserving of respect.
As the world builds back, and societies divorce themselves from pandemic mentality, it is important that the value of real-world, personal connection, is re-established and celebrated. Simultaneously, removing ourselves to a degree from the personal echo chambers of our carefully constructed online lives will be necessary as we move forward. In the modern world, parasocial relationships are normalised and widespread, the challenge lies in not allowing them to bring about disharmony in our personal lives, or retreat back into them in fear of the new unknown which is finally opening up to us.
Edited by Callum Sinclair ( Sub-editor )
Academic References:
Horton, D. and Richard Wohl, R., 1956. Mass communication and para-social interaction: Observations on intimacy at a distance. psychiatry, 19, pp.215-229.
Chung, S. and Cho, H., 2017. Fostering parasocial relationships with celebrities on social media: Implications for celebrity endorsement. Psychology & Marketing, 34(4), pp.481-495.
Tolbert, A.N. and Drogos, K.L., 2019. Tweens’ wishful identification and parasocial relationships with YouTubers. Frontiers in psychology, 10, p.2781.
Online References:
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/07/youtube-is-social-medias-big-winner-during-the-pandemic.html#:~:text=YouTube%20saw%20the%20most%20significant,2019%20to%2081%25%20in%202021.
https://www.findapsychologist.org/parasocial-relationships-the-nature-of-celebrity-fascinations/
https://www.popbuzz.com/internet/youtubers/most-popular-job-children/
https://www.psypost.org/2021/10/longitudinal-study-shows-how-parasocial-relationships-changed-over-time-during-the-covid-19-pandemic-61924
https://www.thedailybeast.com/youtube-stars-like-david-dobrik-and-colleen-ballinger-are-begging-fans-not-to-stalk-them-at-home
https://influencermarketinghub.com/glossary/onlyfans/
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-57269939
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