Parasocial Relationships

I think by now, we all know what parasocial relationships are. Parasocial relationships are defined as "the connection people get from celebrities and other famous people." This definition doesn't really tell you much in my opinion. Parasocial relationships are actually a very easy concept to understand. I wanted to use this topic in one of my blogs because this is the topic that my group is presenting in class. After researching parasocial relationships with my group, I have learned a lot about the interaction between celebrities and "normal people." I think that the internet allows one side relationships to flourish because of networks like Twitter and Instagram. There are obviously many more websites where you have the ability to interact with any celebrity that you want. I learned that some worry that these kind of connections more prevalent than meaningful, real-world relationships. If this is true, than I don't know what our world is coming to. To know that there really are people that sit around on their computer all day in an attempt to get a celebrity to notice them, is comical. Some people base their whole day on these things. On the contrary, parasocial relationships can also be a good thing. If we're talking about technological advancements and overall production, you could argue that parasocial relationships were a major breakthrough in advancements into the future. A new characteristic of mass media - radio, television, and the movies - is that they give the illusion of face-to-face relationship with the performer. It is actually pretty amazing considering this wasn't even thought of 15 years ago. It makes you appreciate technology a little bit more I think. This is why I take both sides on parasocial relationships. Hopefully we can continue to expand and develop new and improved ways of communication with celebrities.