Colleen Ballinger, James Charles, J Cyrus; what do all these people have in common? They’ve all been involved in scandals revolving the topic of parasocial relationships. You’re probably thinking. “What is a parasocial relationship? How could parasocial relationships be bad? Why should I care?” All of these and more will be answered by the end of this article.

What even is a parasocial relationship?

Parasocial defined by Urban Dictionary as “A buzz word being used to refer to creators and influencers forming or encouraging unhealthy relationships with their fans.”. I would define it as when the barrier between fan and friends becomes blurred.  This might sound like every fan’s dream; being on a friend basis with someone who they look up to sounds like a fantasy. Sadly, this isn’t the case most of the time.

What’s the problem with parasocial relationships?

The issue that comes with this type of relationship is the power imbalance. When someone who you idolize starts talking to you, it’s very easy to become almost hypnotized by their presence. This makes it easy for the influencer to manipulate you, or do things your ordinarily wouldn’t do otherwise. The concept of parasocial relationships have existed for a long time, even if it has only been dubbed such as of recently. An example would be rock stars bringing young teenage girl fans backstage to “hangout” in the 80’s and 90’s. However, with the rise of influencers it has made this problem just that much more wide spread and just much easier to manipulate fans. Another issue with parasocial relationships have been brought to light lately: when influencers manipulate child fans.

Influencers forming parasocial relationships with minors

When these influencers try and form parasocial relationships with minors, it makes them even more susceptible to manipulation. Kids are more naïve, trusting, and just not aware that these adults are trying to take advantage of them. With there now being awareness to this topic it’s much harder for these people in power to take advantage of fans. However, the internet has been around for a long time before this awareness was spread. Lately, there have been a lot of people talking about their stories as people who were victims of parasocial relationships as kids. It’s genuinely really sad. I’m going to talk about some victims who have come out and called out people who used to have major influence back in the 2010’s.

Influencers being exposed by victims

Colleen Ballinger

Colleen is a YouTuber who used to have a very popular presence. During her peak, it turns out she had multiple minor fans that she had  inappropriate relationships with. During 2020 a victim of Colleen named Adam came out and exposed how disgusting the relationship truly was. No one believed him at the time and he was written off as someone “seeking clout”. Then during 2023, another person came out exposing that Colleen had been trying to discredit Adam’s story and tried to make him out to be a liar. After that multiple more victims came out with the exact same story. The fact she did that to so many fans is truly disgusting.

J. Cyrus

Honestly I had no idea who this guy was until I did some digging. Interestingly enough, he recently came back up in the news because he started dating the pop star Doja Cat. Anyways, J. Cyrus was a famous Vine star back in the early 2010’s. When Vine died J. Cyrus moved his platform over to twitch. He built a little community that was loyal and loved his streams. Then, multiple women came forward saying that he was using his platform to try manipulate women to become partners with him. He later apologized and admitted what he did was wrong and that he would change; but then deleted his statement.

Finishing thoughts

Even if you had no idea what parasocial relationships were before reading this article, I’m sure you can now see how dangerous it can turn could be. It’s essential to be mindful of our interactions with our favorite influencers online. Make sure to prioritize following someone at a healthy and safe environment so that they can’t have such immense power over you. Stay informed and stay cautious! 🙂