Parasocial relationships and you - where do they exist in your life and are they harming you?

[oneida]

While it's true that the overwhelming majority of parasocial relationships comes from people interacting with content makers (YouTube creators, Twitch streamers, etc), as the video discusses these relationships can also exist between, for example, a patient and a $6,000 medical device. Just want to broaden the scope here for some people: you don't have to send fanmail to PDP to be engaging in a parasocial relationship.

 

[samoyed]

I've thankfully resisted most of these. I watch streamers like many others but I keep interaction to a minimum.

 

[lunarworks]

This is why the Twitch and podcast phenomena have always gone over my head. I just can't create the illusion of a relationship like that. There has to be meaningful two-way communication before my mind even considers someone a friend or associate. That's not to say I haven't thought it would be nice to be friends with certain people, it's what the kids call "relatable", but I never felt they were talking directly to me.

 

[Deleted member 2620]

Good videos, thanks OP.

 

[BladeoftheImmortal]

My YouTube subscriptions like my comments back. So suck on that. Not one-sided here baby

 

[Kevers]

Yeah, Giant Bomb and RLM were the big two for me. I can't recall ever getting that way with a band.

 

[TheLucasLite]

I listen to podcasts while I work. I never participate in commenting on them be it on Twitch, YouTube, or a subreddit etc.

 

[shaneo632]

Kinda Funny sells the whole "best friend" thing pretty hard but I guess it seems a bit contrived to me. Not to say they don't care about their fans because I really think they do, but I cringe at the thought of some lonely viewers taking that label a bit too literally.

 

[deli]

Hmm, very interesting stuff. Personally, i'm not affected by this though. Every other human being in the world that grew up on the internet and that spends a disproportionate amount of time in niche online communities? Yeah, sure. But not me. Guess i'm just different ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

Anyway, that was my main takeaway from this and I just wanted to post that.