What do people mean when they call streamer/fans relations parasocial?

[Lemmingwiser]

The word gets thrown around a lot and it obviously is a new buzzword.

Obviously every word gets thrown around a lot until it's hard to discern meaning, like how gaslighting, which derives from a play where someone conspires to make someone doubt their own sanity to now where people use it for "someone has a different perspective than I and it causes me cognitive dissonance".

So I'm sitting here wondering exactly what the word should mean and what it actually means when people use it. It seems to be when the value of an interaction is one directional?

However apart from extreme examples like NFT scams or gambling ads, when does this really happen and how?

 

[Joe Swanson]

Its not a buzzword, it's describes when someone develops a one sided bond with a celebrity which often grows to replace all other socialization in their lives. All while said celebrity doesn't even know of their existence beyond possibly reading their name when they donate

 

[Lemmingwiser]

which often grows to replace all other socialization in their lives.

I've never known anyone this happens to, but I suppose that's the point, people who this happens to don't know many people.

Is this a very common occurance?

 

[Phalanges Mycologist]

It means they are so shut in and starved for interaction they imagine they are relationship with somebody the other side of the screen, it's a slightly less coom brained version of Onlythot simps throwing away money for pictures of less than stellar naughty bits at the expense of more important things, they live for the thill of "Thanks for the $1.99 supper chat schlub" as it's replaced hearing there name said aloud by family and friends for them.

 

[WelfareNiggerQueen]

I've never known anyone this happens to, but I suppose that's the point, people who this happens to don't know many people.

Is this a very common occurance?

I've only seen it happen with live streamers and on social media. could be more common than what most people believe and what's studied. Whatever any estimations were pre 2020 definitely got exacerbated by secluding kids to the internet more with lockdowns. Very unsettling seeing people act like whomever they're following online is a close friend despite the only time they get interaction from them is pay pigging an amount that should bring worry (both in volume of pay pig chats and amount)

In the most insane instances you'll get a Ricardo Lopez. I expect to see more of these types particularly with the shut in Zoomers that graduated high school during the lockdowns.

 

[JoshPlz]

Have you tried searching for the word before making this thread?

Parasocial interaction - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

It's a very real thing and the reason why streamers make so much money.

 

[Penis Drager 2.0]

Its not a buzzword, it's describes when someone develops a one sided bond with a celebrity which often grows to replace all other socialization in their lives. All while said celebrity doesn't even know of their existence beyond possibly reading their name when they donate

I've never known anyone this happens to, but I suppose that's the point, people who this happens to don't know many people.

Is this a very common occurance?

It's important to note that parasocial relationships don't typically reach overtly delusional levels. These people logically know the media personality doesn't know or care about them. It usually takes the form of the consumer feeling that the persona resonates with them to the extent that they start to feel "friendly" and will shift to watching their content to fill unmet social needs rather than for the content itself.

Russell Greer is not typical.

 

[BULLY HUNTER_78]

Have you tried seaching for the word before making this thread?

Parasocial interaction - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

It's a very real thing and the reason why streamers make so much money.

Especially Vtubers. Some of their best pay pigs are extremely possessive and talk to their Vtuber like they're their girlfriend. It's why almost all Vtubers pretend to be single. For lots of lonely men out there, they get their simulated girlfriend experience from their favorite streamer.

 

[Gravityqueen4life]

I've never known anyone this happens to, but I suppose that's the point, people who this happens to don't know many people.

Is this a very common occurance?

it used to be a thing even before the internet. with fans obsession over bands, singers and movie starts. sending them fan mails that start of nice and friendly but slowly turn obsessive, hostile and sometimes, outright hatred beacuse something the celeb may have said or rumor's of them being in a relationship they dont approve of. the real crazy ones become delusional and think the celebrity knows of their existence and do the things they dont approve of to spit them personally which of course, is all fiction. beacuse by that point, the fan has become a full blown scizo.

the internet has only made it worse with how easy it is to keep track on celebrities and the instant flow of information. E-celeb spent most of their lives online beacuse that's how they make their living, making it easier to get involved in their lives and to stalk them. than we have all the communities build around the celeb beacuse now, crazies can communicate with eachother and share their crazy theories with one and other (like the farms lol).

I've only seen it happen with live streamers and on social media. could be more common than what most people believe and what's studied. Whatever any estimations were pre 2020 definitely got exacerbated by secluding kids to the internet more with lockdowns. Very unsettling seeing people act like whomever they're following online is a close friend despite the only time they get interaction from them is pay pigging an amount that should bring worry (both in volume of pay pig chats and amount)

In the most insane instances you'll get a Ricardo Lopez. I expect to see more of these types particularly with the shut in Zoomers that graduated high school during the lockdowns.

View attachment 4160366

was about to mention Lopez beacuse he was ahead of his time. then we have the cases like Mark David Chapman, who shot John Lemon just beacuse he wanted to be famous too.

 

[xoodyak]

The phenomenon started with television. Of course you consciously know that the talking heads on TV can't hear or see you, but your brain is evolved to keep track of a small community of people, and when you're constantly seeing someone's face in your home, hearing their voice on a daily basis, unconsciously you probably think of them as a friend or neighbor.

 

[Sperghetti]

It seems to be when the value of an interaction is one directional?

Something like that, yes.

It’s basically a very unbalanced “relationship” where one party (a fan) is so familiar with another party (a celebrity) that they start to regard them as a friend, even though that other party knows very little about them outside of a very general sense and likely wouldn’t even recognize them if they passed them on the street. The first party feels like there’s a friendship there, even though there really isn’t.

I think it’s important to note that it’s not necessarily a negative or obsessive thing. Like somebody else said, most people aren’t overtly delusional about these relationships. The term is more about the feeling of relatability and friendliness existing, even though it’s a one-way street.

That dynamic has been around as long as there have been famous people to be fans of, but it’s increasingly common now that we live in Andy Warhol’s future where just about anyone can become famous for 15 minutes.

But as you said, it’s recently also become a near-meaningless buzzword that gets thrown around in situations where it’s barely relevant. (For example, acknowledging that a famous person is a real person and having empathy for them.)

 

[Lemmingwiser]

Have you tried seaching for the word before making this thread?

Sure, but words get used a bunch beyond their defined definition (see example in OP. You did read the OP, right? ).

I appreciate all the answers so far.

 

[Weeby Catto]

Basically one sided relationship where one party (usually the fans) felt like they are closer to the star/streamer than a stranger.

In reality, the star is always not your friends no matter what good advice they give you, anyone that you have never met and interacted moderately in real life is not your friend. But the internet and streaming age has made the delusion even easier especially when stars can communicate "directly" to you, making you feel special. Most people understand this dynamic, but kids will have a harder time to come into that understanding.

 

[Looney Troons]

It really doesn’t seem like a big deal until someone you closely associate with falls victim to the sort of relationship. I’ll briefly outline a friend’s experiences, which were extremely parasitic, below:

A good friend fell down the Vtuber hole during the wake of the pandemic and completely ruined his own life to try to interact with someone who will never know he actually exists. Won’t bore you with the extreme details, but he did open and max out numerous credit cards, and became so encumbered in debt that he had to move back in with his parents.

Some of these people only interact with you when you’re giving them money or other gifts. Aforementioned friend clipped every time he got shouted out on stream (for donating money) and strung them together into a single file, which was embarrassingly long. He received a reality check after being “inducted” into the Vtuber’s “private Snap”. She was, apparently, sending canned responses out to everyone foolish enough to give her enough money for the privilege. Eventually, she got some names mixed up and addressed my pal as someone else. He didn’t receive so much as a “sorry uWu”, but tard raged hard enough on her Snapchat messages and stream to get banned. None of these retards learn their lesson until it is too late.

 

[JamusActimus]

It's even worse when the fan donates money and expects attention and love from the female streamer.

Some female streamer let those parasocial relationship form because the fans give even more money in those cases.


One day pokimane or another female streamer gonna get Bianca Devined.

 

[PipTheAlchemist]

OP is getting parasocially gaslit

 

[William Tyndale]

TIL I’m parasocial to Josh moon. TFW no Josh moon to tuck me in bed at night.

 

[The Lawgiver]

I don't think any streamers I've checked in on care about or remember me but I always find it funny how weirdly often my messages end up being caught and read by them despite me not donating a fucking cent to any of them. It's usually them just seeing my comment on shit going on and laughing before sometimes repeating what they saw. There's a lot more soul to spreading joy like that via circumstance then forcing a streamer to read through 500 fucking superchats.
Parasocial motherfuckers really are out there thinking they know everything about someone and have/deserve a relationship solely because they donated the max stacks of cash they could, it's fucking incredible how far society has come just to end up like this.

 

[cybertoaster]

Something like this:

Think for a second that all the kids that grew up thinking pewdiepie was their friend almost a decade ago have normalized this behavior to the point its almost normal to simp even for a virtual cartoon girl.

which often grows to replace all other socialization in their lives

Here's the thing, these simps? they didn't have much if any socialization in their lives to begin with.

A lot of people are very, very alone, if they died nobody would care.

And they know it, hence the desperation.

 

[The Lawgiver]

Something like this:
View attachment 4164189
Think for a second that all the kids that grew up thinking pewdiepie was their friend almost a decade ago have normalized this behavior to the point its almost normal to simp even for a virtual cartoon girl.

Here's the thing, these simps? they didn't have much if any socialization in their lives to begin with.

A lot of people are very, very alone, if they died nobody would care.

And they know it, hence the desperation.

Considering gura is not just a virtual cartoon girl but a lets play streamer woman with a virtual cartoon girl mocap avatar so it's basically an unholy fusion of the pewdiepie kids and the kind of people that obsess over twitch thots but the difference being unlike the thots and pewdie you never actually see the person's actual face when they're streaming. It's kinda like maybe something slightly similar but not identical to those people that obsess over vinny vinesauce in unhealthy ways and draw porn of him fucking himself or something.
EDIT: Jesus christ I'm tired my ass is near incoherent here but you get me probably.