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The effect of digitalisation on parasocial relationships

“I love you and will be your fan forever!” “OMG, my bias calls us his best friends!” Sounds familiar? These are signs that your friends (or you!) could be in a parasocial relationship.

Parasocial relationships are often one-sided, where one person extends emotional energy, interest and time, while the other party is completely unaware of the other’s existence. They are most commonly used to describe the relationship between media users and public figures, such as celebrities, content creators, influencers, etc.


There are many reasons as to why people treat a parasocial relationship as though it is a typical social one. One of them could be that in order to gratify their need for social interaction, some look towards public figures as a source of alternative companionship. After all, parasocial interactions are perceived to have a next to zero risk of rejection compared to interpersonal interactions. Why would celebrities, knowing the importance of a strong fanbase, reject love confessions from their fans?


Sad to say, most celebrities will never view their fans as actual friends. At most, they will be thankful of the love and support received. At worst, they will see their fanbase as merely a source of income and even develop contempt for those who are hopelessly in love with them. If a parasocial relationship is so superficial, then what makes it successful enough to give the illusion of a two-way exchange? One main factor is the use of cognitive biases to the popular figure’s advantage.


The Halo effect

The halo effect refers to when we use an external trait of a person to make an overall judgment of them. It is also known as the "physical attractiveness stereotype", where we tend to assume attractive people are smarter, kinder, and funnier than less attractive people, regardless of whether we know their personality well or not.


This is why it is important for celebrities to be conventionally attractive, especially in the K-pop industry, which is notorious for its strict beauty standards. Crash diets, cosmetic surgery and professional makeup are just some ways for idols to fit into Korean beauty standards. Needless to say, the more physically attractive an idol is, the more fans they will attract, and hence the more money they will make. Visuals are so emphasised to the point that most groups have a ‘visual’ position to act as the face of the group.


Digitalisation increases the halo effect due to how it conceals physical flaws that would otherwise be exposed in real life. Social media has allowed us to view the lives of celebrities through rose-tinted glasses. Advancements in technology have also led to an increased usage of beauty filters and photoshop, which further enhances the physical appearance of media figures. There has also been an increasing trend in V-tubers, a genre of streamers that uses a 2D avatar and takes on a persona instead of showing their real identities. Being a V-tuber allows streamers to have a fairer chance at success regardless of their actual appearances, but it can result in fans developing unrealistic expectations towards how they should look.


Take the minecraft streamer Dream for example. Having spent most of his career behind a mask, his fans had to imagine what he actually looked like, so they could have developed an unrealistic image of him in their minds. In October last year, he had a face reveal which garnered a lot of mixed reactions from Twitter users. Some even mocked his appearance with the hashtag #PutTheMaskBackOn trending in response to the reveal.


Faux vulnerability

Faux vulnerability refers to the type of vulnerability that is manufactured for clicks and attention. To some extent, celebrities use faux vulnerability to elicit an empathetic response from their audience and narrow the social distance in the parasocial relationship. It could range from using social media like a one-way therapy session with an unidentified audience to filming a reality show that allows viewers to witness the most vulnerable and personal sides of their lives.

Fans, especially younger and more naive ones, may mistake faux vulnerability for true vulnerability and feel as though they know their celebrity crushes personally. This can be seen from the multiple comments offering comfort and support under the emotional videos of most media figures.


Digitalisation has contributed to the effectiveness of this cognitive bias because not only does the Internet allow for 24-hour access to media users, it has also created more interactive environments, allowing fans to more easily communicate with their celebrity crushes. This increased frequency of contact sustains the parasocial relationship for a longer period of time.


Ingroup bias

Ingroup bias refers to the tendency to favor people that are similar to us (ingroup members) over other people (outgroup members). Group identification can vary as it stems from any characteristic that creates a sense of collective identity amidst people. This bias can present in many forms but fundamentally, we tend to be less critical of the performance of ingroup members than outgroup members.


That is why media figures try their best to appear relatable so that they can have appeal to a wider audience and as a result, have a larger fanbase. Some ways that they do so include sharing about their hobbies and participating in trends.


Digitalisation has catalysed the formation of trends. Due to the copious amounts of content being posted on social media every day, trends are evolving faster than ever. The increased usage of social media has also allowed people to share their experiences and receive affirmations from other users who relate to them.


For example, Noah Schnapp from Stranger Things went viral for talking about his favorite app — an app that lets you fake phone calls to escape social situations. He may have done so genuinely, but there is no doubt that this incident increased the number of ingroups he ‘joined’. Introverts and people with social anxiety on the internet shared his video because they shared the same sentiments, leading to a rise in his popularity.


Indeed, digitalisation has strengthened parasocial relationships because the distance of a screen can hide whatever one deems ‘ugly’ and show only the attention-worthy sides to oneself. The rise in the use of social media and technology allows media figures to pull off this perfect balance in order to boost their popularity, which in turn, benefits their income. This actually makes parasocial relationships all the more superficial and gives the illusion of an interpersonal relationship.


What does this mean for fans, then? While having celebrity crushes can act as a source of joy, the fact that parasocial relationships have increasing resemblance to interpersonal relationships means that it may be easier to fall into obsession. Being overly obsessed to the point of neglecting one’s friends and family or one’s health is detrimental, especially for younger, more impressionable fans. That is why it is important to know the difference between delusion and reality when experiencing the effect that digitalisation has on parasocial relationships.


Written by: Ong Huay Xin (23A11)

Edited by: Peh Jia Qian (22S6B), Lee Ren Kai Artemus (22A15)


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