Celebrity Culture: The good, The bad and The ugly.
The impact of our celebrity addiction.
Being a celebrity in the 21st century means giving your life up to the press. No, I don’t mean literally, but it may as well be. Celebrities are subject to 40% of news stories circulating our newspapers and screens today. But I find myself asking the question, why? Why are celebrities, who are just people like you and I, being scrutinised for the normal activities we see every single day?
Gossip. Plain and simple.
Naturally, gossip is hardwired into our brains- we are social creatures. But there is something about celebrity gossip that drives us even further. Daniel Kruger, a biologist at the University of Michigan, has said there are two benefits and reasonings to our obsession with celebrity gossip;
- “Learning what high-status individuals do, so you might more effectively become one.”
2. “Knowing what is going on with high-status individuals, so you’d be better able to navigate the social scene.”
Before the beginning of time humans have compared themselves to one another. Psychologist, Nadine Field summarises that “we look to and learn at other couplings and think, well, they’re very successful; this is how we could be successful.” We are living in a culture where is pays to be paid attention to, the digital age we live in is food for celebrity gossip to survive in; and we consume it every single day. Arguably, social media stars and celebrities exploit this vulnerability; they take to their platforms and dish out juicy stories and gossip worthy information like they are going out of fashion! But this is all aided due to the growth of these networking sites. Reaching out to celebrities is made easier than ever now, with the ease of Twitter and Instagram it is like second nature to mention Justin Bieber in a tweet, or like Kim Kardashians’ latest Instagram post.
The results? A parasocial relationship.
This kind of psychological torment is what drives our obsession with celebrity culture. It provides individuals with this sense of power and divine connection to the high profile celebs we think we know. A key selling point and an adding drive to the domain of celebrity culture is the 24 hour access, stimulated again by social networking sites. This has increased the dependency we have to the gossip they source and provides addiction like behaviours.
Making one question is it predominantly the gossip we all search for? Or, is it that we are trapped in this never ending cycle of celebrity gossip, which is doing nothing but feeding our addiction?
“In our society, celebrities act like a drug.” — James Houran
What is the impact?
While we now know that this addiction to celebrity culture can lead to the formation of parasocial relationships on our behalf. Something which is often swept under the carpet is the detrimental impact people’s obsessions are having on the actual celebrities.
- Mental health issues
- Careers ending
- Life taking
- Addiction gaining
To list a few, these are some of the negative impacts that our celebrity obsession is having on the subjects. While there is no doubt that celebrities receive an abundance of love from their adoring fans, there is also evidence to suggest that they also are subject to online scrutiny and hateful trolling. Look at their social media accounts for that! The comments section on any post is a powerful place and subject to many hurtful words.
Singer, songwriter and actress, Demi Lovato, has been an advocate in sharing how online hate and bullying can be have a huge impact on people’s mental health. Being subject to online hate herself, Demi has openly revealed how trolls have impacted her health.
In a world where we compare ourselves to a photoshopped Instagram model, without a shadow of a doubt celebrities do the same.
“I would check it obsessively, reading comments and wondering if people noticed that I’d gained or lost weight. I allowed social media to define what I thought of my body. And now I realize that no matter how thin you are, someone will call you fat. No matter how beautiful you are, someone will call you ugly.” — Demi Lovato
While Demi’s huge online presence and globally recognised name allows room for public opinion, surely everyone can agree that nobody deserves to wake up in the morning and see hateful comments about their weight or the way they look. Journalists should be more thoughtful when it comes to their publications, words hurt! This resulted in Demi ceasing use of her Twitter account back in 2010 which stayed closed until late 2012.
It seems fit to address, Demi Lovato had suffered from several health issues before her rise to fame, including bi polar disorder and depression. The constant cycle of abuse and bullying she receives would not help aid her recovery and would destroy any sense of self worth she may have.
She is human!
Like Demi Lovato, former Little mix star, Jesy Nelson has been open about the effects online hate and the fame surrounding celebrity culture has impacted her mental health. In 2019, Nelson released a documentary entitled Odd One Out, which documents her experience with online trolls. In it she says after winning the X factor, one of the first messages in her Facebook inbox was from a random man. He said:
“You are the ugliest thing I have ever seen in my life, how on earth were you ever put in this girl band- you deserve to die.”
While we know celebrities lives are fascinating compared to our normal mundane routines. There is no, and I repeat no, justification for hate to this extent.
This here is a prime example of how online hate and obsession can have potentially career ending actions. Jesy quit Little Mix. The constant press, online hate and circulation of gossip that haunted her as a result of her successful rise to fame became too much, and she had decided her little mix career was over.
Why is this fair?
The power words hold is immense, think before you speak should be the new slogan.
She too, is human!
Asides from these huge and very public examples, the death of Caroline Flack, Mike Thalassitis and Sophie Gradon must be mentioned. All three have ties to the famous ITV show Love Island, and while the blame can not be deduced to one single source; online neglect was the main subject and major blame in their deaths by suicide. After the death of Thalassitis, health secretary Matt Hancock called for “reality shows to do more for competitors once they have become famous.” While this is of course necessary, people like you and I must come to terms with the power of our opinions and understand gossip online can spread in seconds. But not only that, journalists need to stop opening the floor for hateful comments and start spreading positivity in their writing, especially when it’s about those in the public eye. Mental health is a serious issue and the message of not knowing what is going on in someone else’s life should be spread like the plague!
Understandably, celebrity culture is fascinating, we all want to know what is going on in their lives. Your celebrity obsession, while it may seem totally innocent, has the potential to cause serious harm and it is vital to understand that they are human too and they experience the same feelings you do.
Media effects are real. Mental health is REAL.
