Parasocial Relationships

Parasocial relationships are one-sided relationships that a person forms by becoming attached to another individual while that individual is completely unaware of their existence. These most commonly occur between celebrities and their audiences. There can be some benefits to these relationships, but the risks outweigh them.

Starting off with the benefits, a parasocial relationship can help a person feel less lonely, improve their social and relationship skills, and help form their identity. While we usually only see these benefits in adolescents, occasionally adults see the same benefits. In a Medical News Today article, Lauren Martin states, "The researchers believe adolescents may use parasocial relationships to imagine the relationships they want, which could have associations with gender and developmental goals." Adolescents can see these celebrities and influencers as mentors, and as long as they are positive influences for our youth, then parasocial relationships don’t seem too dangerous. There is nothing wrong with feeling connected to celebrities and seeing them as mentors, but when that feeling of connection turns into obsession, that is when we reach the dangerous side of the spectrum. 

As previously stated, parasocial relationships can have benefits, but the risks and dangers of them usually outweigh the benefits. Parasocial relationships can be extremely dangerous, depending on the person. While these relationships seem harmless, they can very quickly turn into something very dark, such as obsessions with celebrities. It is very unhealthy for people to convince themselves that they have real relationships with their favorite influencers, because then they start to do things that they wouldn’t normally do on their own. Some of these things include changing political views to align with the influencer's, developing bad spending habits by making purchases recommended by the influencer, and becoming distracted from the real world because they are so engrossed in the imaginary scenarios they've created. This can then lead to worse things, like stalking the influencer or celebrity.

A well-known example of a parasocial relationship would be Selena Quintanilla being murdered by her fan club president, Yolanda Saldivar. Yolanda had idolized Selena so much that it had turned into an obsession. She was able to work her way into Selena’s close business circle, and when a disagreement about some business occurred, Yolanda murdered Selena. It is clear that Yolanda had delusional fantasies about Selena, and when Selena did something that didn’t align with these fantasies, she took action. It is extremely tragic that something like this happened, but it does go to show that parasocial relationships should not be taken lightly because they can very quickly develop into disasters. 

Parasocial relationships are not something out of the ordinary, and they occur even more frequently now due to social media. In a Verywell Mind article, Cynthia Vinney says, "...when a media user responds to a post by their favorite performer on Twitter, the performer may acknowledge them by liking or re-tweeting their message." Actions like this encourage parasocial relationships because the celebrity interacting with their fan can seem like the celebrity reaching out to the fan on a personal level. While parasocial relationships aren’t completely awful, there have been some awful consequences caused by them, so it is important that we don’t ignore them when we notice them developing. Simply addressing the issue before it worsens can mean the difference between certain people being stalked and harassed.