"It’s a bleak new world that has such virtual girlfriends in it. "
Chatbots by major influencers like Amouranth and Caryn Marjorie let fans pay by the minute for virtual interactions – here, an expert on parasocial relationships walks us through the risks.
Dr David Giles, who specialises in media psychology at the University of Winchester [on parasocial relatioships]. “Typically these are between media figures and members of the audience. The media user knows the media figure intimately, but s/he doesn’t exist for them (other than as part of a homogeneous ‘audience’).”
To some extent, social media has complicated this definition, since audiences have more access to media figures, and can talk back to them by leaving Instagram comments or typing in a Twitch chat. “I’ve always argued that we should understand relationships as existing on a spectrum, in which ‘social’ and ‘parasocial’ are the endpoints,” Giles adds. “So a relationship can be ‘partly parasocial’ – like many with vloggers, influencers etc. Fully parasocial would be something like a relationship with a fictional figure (who has never existed) or a dead human (like Elvis).”
We need tough, bristly conversation and to cultivate tools of non-violent communication. It’s hard to hate up close, even for people who you believe are hateful. I implore you to reach out to folks with whom you disagree and ask to get on the phone.
BBC's Justin Rowlatt intervjiewed Yanukovich, who later took revenge: He (Y) "was "aghast" at my decision to conduct the interview in - and I quote - "blue jeans and a grey suit jacket over a blue shirt with a white T-shirt showing at the open neckline".
journal of radical media thinking and critical practice, a forum for all those deeply concerned about a mass media that's represented a controlling elite...