ParasocialRelationshipsareWeird, BUT

COOL TOO!

Parasocial relationships are a weird phenomenon. It usually stands for a one-sided relationship where one person is invested in the other person’s life without that other person realizing or acknowledging it. For most of us zoomers, if you grew up with YouTube like I did, then you may have formed a parasocial relationship with an online creator. Maybe you also could have owned a stan page for a celebrity you really liked on Ttwitter or X now… F*ck “X” is a terrible name for a social media platform Either way, on the surface these one-sided relationships may seem abnormal, and they can certainly become problematic and obsessive. But I think in our increasingly alienated lives caused by the capitalist dystopian hell hole we live in, forming a relationship with someone or something that doesn’t recognize you is almost normal.

By Sean Richard Staff Writer

Sure, you may get weird looks depending on who you say you stan (I’m looking at you Matty Healy and Kanye stans), but ultimately, I think a lot of people have some form of a one sided relationship (I don’t actually have evidence for this but I’m going off of vibes). In fact, I think that you can potentially find some form of community or a sense of belonging in a mutual love for somebody famous. You might even make some close friends; however, I think it can become a serious problem if you don’t have anything outside of that. If people jokingly tell you to go touch some grass, that’s one thing, but really evaluate if you can separate yourself from the parasocial relationship you have If not, well…I think you should ground yourself with some cool people that you can talk to in person My first solution: find people IRL who share the same parasocial relationships you do.

Have a great day! I’m off to go watch a live streamer who doesn’t recognize my existence for 8 hours (I’m not joking).

Edited by Léa Gennaro