The phenomenon of celebrity worship syndrome is often associated with the rise of social media in the past couple of decades. It is defined as a “type of parasocial relationship that occurs when admiration of a celebrity shifts into an obsessive fascination and preoccupation.” A parasocial relationship can be described as a one-sided relationship individuals may feel towards celebrities or other figures in the media. Oftentimes people who engage in celebrity worship or idolization may feel as if the celebrity they are fixated on is like a friend, and due to the pervasiveness of social media, followers get to see a more intimate side of the lives of their favorite celebrities than ever before. Nonetheless, this does not account for the meticulous curation that goes into making a social media personality. What we see online will never truly be real and this often gets lost in our society’s hyperfixation of celebrity culture.
The roots of celebrity worship are aplenty. For many fans, celebrities represent an ideal or a dream; they live vicariously through them. These celebrities are admired for their skills, talent, wealth, and good looks among many other things. Celebrities wield a lot of influence on the decisions of their fans due to this veneration. The disastrous effects of this power dynamic have yet to truly unfold though in the next few decades, we may hope to gain better insight into how celebrity worship and parasocial relationships impact our social interactions.
In the past year, Taylor Swift has become the center of attention in discussions of celebrity worship. Her fanbase has grown beyond anything anyone has seen before, especially since the announcement of her Eras Tour. She dominated the 2023 charts and continues to do so in 2024. This may be in part due to the nostalgia it brought for many Swifties (a term for fans of the artist) who grew up listening to her music over the last 20 years and are now preparing for her concerts around the world. NYU Langone psychologist Dr. Yamalis Diaz suggests that the singer’s popularity may be due to her “relatable” and “real” image that her fans adore. Moreover, her fanbase has taken over social media sharing content ranging from their concert outfits to friendship bracelets they made for the tour to gossip of her relationship with Kansas City Chiefs player Travis Kelce and obsessive clue searching for hints to her next album release. The case of Taylor Swift highlights one major problem of celebrity worship, though, which is lack of accountability. Recently, Taylor Swift has received criticism from the public for the massive carbon emissions her private jet has produced. Many Swifties have rushed to defend the artist, citing other celebrities who also use private jets. This ignores the fact that she should still be held responsible for her actions too. Everyone causing such a detrimental impact on the environment is at fault and she should not be exempt from blame.
Another example of celebrity worship is the shift of YouTubers becoming celebrities. Oftentimes YouTube videos provide an even more intimate look into an influencer’s life than that of A-listers like Swift. This contributes to a greater feeling of connection, or a stronger parasocial relationship, in which individuals feel like they are friends with the YouTubers they watch. A study from researchers at California State University and Northeastern University reveals that two major explanations for the development of parasocial relationships on YouTube may be physical and social attraction to the YouTubers. Furthermore, the study found that the media platform itself facilitates parasocial relationships through its informal, casual format. These factors combine to make it quite easy for YouTubers to influence their followers. For many viewers, sponsorships or ads may just be an inconvenience to skip through. Still, for every person pressing “fast forward,” there’s another listening and potentially buying products because their favourite YouTuber told them to. This is especially damaging for children who lack the critical thinking skills to weigh the value of products they are being promoted by people they look up to; instead they will just beg their parents for whatever they saw in a YouTube video.
Celebrity worship is unequivocally concerning and underscores a grim future for influencer culture. It is shown to have a positive relationship with “problematic Internet use, maladaptive daydreaming, and a desire for fame.” These negative effects impact the day-to-day lives of individuals yearning for an escape from the destitution of their “regular” lives. For celebrities, such idolization can become intrusive and invade their privacy as fans feel entitled to their lives. We must be conscientious of how we view celebrities and remember that at the end of the day, they are simply regular people who should be held accountable just like everyone else. The pedestal society has placed them on is but a façade.
Edited by Manhoor Zaman
Hannah Hipólito is in her first year at McGill University pursuing a Joint Honours BA in Political Science and Sociology. She enjoys researching and writing about public policy and culture, especially in relation to education, civil rights, and gun control.