Today we're going to be talking about us, me and you.
I know it's kind of weird.
We're not directly talking about me and you.
We're kind of indirectly talking about me and you, because today's topic addresses the type of relationship that we have.
Me as a podcaster and you as the listener, but also to zoom out from that, me as a public figure and you as somebody who consumes content of me.
Today we're going to be talking about parasocial relationships.
Now, you probably heard this term because it's a buzz term.
The term parasocial relationship has been used a lot over the past few months and the past few years, but it's especially relevant now with the Internet.
Before I go any further, because I just want to totally jump into the topic, but I have to be responsible and read the definition of parasocial relationships so that we're really on the same page here.
Parasocial relationships are one sided relationships where one person extends emotional energy, interest, and time in the other party.
The Persona is completely unaware of the other's existence.
I think the most obvious example of this is a celebrity and a fan.
The celebrity is completely unaware of the individual fan's existence, yet the fan is putting large amounts of emotional energy, interest in time into supporting the celebrity.
That's like an awfully harsh way to look at it, but it is the truth.
This applies with actors and the characters that they play in movies.
This applies to musicians.
This applies to any type of online personality, whether that's a youtuber or a podcaster or just an influencer.
This applies to every type of celebrity who puts themselves out there.
But it also applies to fictional characters, like, you know, a character that you're reading about in a book or watching in a tv show or movie.
I think why this is such an interesting topic to me is because I've experienced both sides of a parasocial relationship.