Teenagers and Parasocial Relationships - Research Paper Example

TEENAGERS AND PARASOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS Teenagers and Parasocial Relationships This paper focuses on theconcept of parasocial relationship and its effects in relation to teenagers. The concept of parasocial relationships was first coined by Horton and Wohl in 1956. They based their arguments on the influence that mass media communication had on its users Parasocial relationships refer to one sided relationships in which one party knows more about the other party. In parasocial scenarios, strong bonds are formed although one party is completely unaware of the other party. Knowledge of parasocial relationships has come in handy to explain relationships between media users and media personalities. With the increased usage and interactions of people via media, there emerged the need to determine how relations between media users and media figures impacted on either side. Over the years, extensive research has followed, especially by communication scholars, seeking to understand the concept of parasocial relationships. Introduction Parasocial relationships refer to one sided relationships in which one party knows more about the other party. For example, relationships between the general population and famous people such as members of parliament, celebrities and news anchors. In parasocial scenarios, strong bonds are formed although one party is completely unaware of the other party. For example in the case of media, viewers may have strong bonds with media personalities yet the media personalities do not really have a social relationship with the viewers. In such a scenario the viewer feels that the media personalities are directly addressing them. Knowledge of parasocial relationships has come in handy to explain relationships between media users and media personalities. In this essay I will describe the theory/concept of parasocial relationships and then illustrate it with an example from a perspective of media influence on teenagers. The concept of parasocial relationships was coined by Horton and Wohl in 1956. They based their arguments on the influence that mass media communication had on its users. With the increased usage and interactions of people via media, there emerged the need to determine how relations between media users and media figures impacted on either side. Over the years, extensive research has followed, especially by communication scholars, seeking to understand the concept of parasocial relationships. Parasocial relationships are generally based on illusions and influence is expected to develop with time since they heavily rely on recurrence. Parasocial relationships are considered to be one sided because they only have effects on one party. For example, parasocial relationships do not have influence on media personalities but rather on viewers only. However, the concept of parasocial relationships does not only apply to media communication but also in other aspects of life. For example, long before exploration of the subject by Horton and Wohl, there existed parasocial relationships such as those between people and the gods. Little was known about the gods yet they had great influence on people’s lives and shaped the day to day activities. For parasocial relationships to work, the viewer needs to get involved and extend emotional ties to the persona. Therefore, the persona is the role model or the party influencing the viewer such as media personalities. The personas offer a much needed figure that can be modelled to the viewers’ liking. For instance, Giles argues that the serial nature of soap operas gives it more audience (qtd. in Nicole, 2011, p.7). This implies that personas should be able to offer the desired character. Parasocial relationships may be considered important since they sometimes offer support to people, which may not be readily available in real life situations. Since parasocial relationships are based on illusions, there is room for alteration of the persona to fit the desired personality or figure of the viewer. This is made possible by the fact that not everything about the persona is known and there are gaps about their personality that need to be filled to make a complete and real person. This implies that the persona can have different personalities to different people. The personas have a lot of influence on viewers and therefore play an important role in determining the viewers’ behaviors and general view of life. People need to form companionships that are trustworthy and can maneuvered to fit the various situations in life. The need to have loyal companionships that do not impose judgements regardless of the situation has also contributed greatly to building parasocial relationships. The flexibility of personas acts as a strong attribute hence has great preference to real people. Horton and Wohl argued that flexibility of the persona to fit the expected role or response by the audience, the more the audience gets involved (2006 para.2). This implies that personas can easily influence viewers. Loyalty works under the same concept as where some people form tight bonds with pets due to their loyalty. Media interactions such as through interviews create a platform that levels the ground even with popular or renowned persona such as celebrities. By sharing their experiences, viewers develop even stronger bonds since they can to some extent be able to relate. In the modern world levels and occurrences of parasocial relationships have increased greatly with the rising advancements in technology. For example the internet offers a wide platform for interactions such as through social media. Dependence on parasocial relationships is also facilitated by continued availability of personas at any time. Since media is heavily driven by schedules, it is easy to form relationships with media personalities since it is possible to tell what time they will be on air. Therefore, it is arguably easy to form trustworthy relations with personas in terms of consistence and reliability. Viewers can be able to plan frequently on when to interact with personas since programs in which personas are involved have specific timings. In addition, the internet serves as a good access point to personas at any time and regardless of the location. This makes personas seem more reliable due to their unlimited availability and therefore it is easy to form tight bonds. Moreover, the continued interactions with personas offers an important aspect that is necessary for parasocial relationships to work effectively. Although there has been debate over effects and authenticity of parasocial relationships, they can arguably be considered real relationships. This is because they have all the attributes of authentic relationships such as affection, connection, anticipation and loyalty among others. For instance, viewers anticipate to meet their favorite personas. Additionally, the frequent interaction with personas may be viewed as relationship maintenance just as in normal relationships where people meet regularly with friends, perhaps, to check on their well-being. In parasocial relationships, such as those between celebrities and fans, a tragedy to the persona has emotional effects on the viewers. This proves existence of strong ties between both parties involved in parasocial relationships. Furthermore, the same example can be used to prove the one sidedness in parasocial relationships since the persona cannot feel any emotional effects in case one of the viewer undergoes a tragedy. As a result this may be used to refute authenticity of parasocial relationships since normal relationships are two sided an engage both parties involved. Effects brought about by parasocial relationships can either be positive or negative. Since they are one sided, parasocial relationships involve one party borrowing more from the other party and as a result there is bound to be adoption of some behaviors or character. This implies that it is important for the media to control its programs. When dealing with children, it is important for parents and guardians to guide them on which programs to watch. Positivity or negativity of effects depends on the choice of personas. For instance, personas based on scientific shows are likely to influence their viewers to view the world on scientific terms. Continued engagement in parasocial relationships, creates parasocial experiences that may contribute towards making viewers engage more in social norms since they feel as part of the social interaction (Hartmann and Goldhoorn, 2011, p.6). This implies that parasocial relationships can greatly contribute to improving the society by engaging people in constructive societal activities. Parasocial relationships in children and teenagers have shown to have great influence on later relationships. Teenagers are likely to adopt some behaviors in the course of interacting with media such as television. In a bid to better understand parasocial relationships among teenagers, studies have been more focused in teenage girls since they are more likely to get influenced by media personalities and adopt such things as lifestyle. However, either of the genders are greatly influenced by media either positively or negatively. Since the relationships are one sided, teenagers tend to form stronger bonds since there is no fear of rejection or judgment. In normal interactions such as in school settings, some there is a high chance of rejection from some of the fellow students. As a result there is need to seek acceptance which may prove to be difficult for some teenagers. On the other hand, parasocial relationships do not need mush effort and change of personality to gain acceptance. The fact that media personalities, for instance via television, seem to be addressing a viewer directly is enough for a teenager to establish a tight bond with the media personality of own liking. Parasocial interactions may arguably be considered to be based on an illusion. There is a wide range of media personalities to choose from thus teenagers do not have a problem getting the most likable and suitable to fit their interests. It is worth noting that “Viewers evaluate media personalities with the same criteria they use with people they physically encounter in their daily lives” (Rubin and Perse 1987). Furthermore, not much about some media personalities is known and this gives teenagers a chance of filling in the empty gaps with their own desired versions to fit their ideal ‘friend’. As a result, there is bound to be a stronger relationship between teenagers and their favorite media personality who is like a loyal friend. This implies that the media personality has a lot of influence on the teenager. Additionally, for much older teenagers conscious of time can be able to tell what time their favorite personality appears. This is made possible since media personalities appear in certain programs aired at a specific time without fail. This implies that teenagers may form a more trusting relationship in terms of dependence with the media personality. This may be in effect mostly in those teenagers without real adult figures in their lives such as extremely busy parents or guardians who share limited time with their children. Effects of Parasocial relationships may either be positive or negative. Amazingly the effects of Parasocial interactions can occur either consciously or sub consciously. Interestingly, “People construct a mental representation of their relationships with the persona” (Klimmit, Hefner, and Vorderer 2009, p. 303). This implies that Parasocial relationships have great impacts in people’s lives. The influence laid by media personalities may either improve teenagers’ behaviors and view point perspective or ruin them. In most cases teenagers emulate their favorite personalities and depending on the personality of choice, there may be positive or negative influence. In relation to media, Parasocial relationships may even lead to self-hate. For example, a scenario where the viewer cannot be able to change and look like the personality of choice. Research shows that some men may covet muscular superhero characters. In cases where the desired character may not be achieved, there may be distortion of self-perception eventually leading to self-hate. Such influences may be dangerous considering the fact that many media programs are scripted to suit perfection that may be hard or impossible to attain in real life situations. On the other hand, Parasocial relationships can have positive effects that may lead to self-improvement among teenagers. In cases where teenagers adopt media personalities that are well mannered and have a high social view, there can be improvements on teenagers’ lives. Media personalities can act as audience motivations. For instance, Horton and Wohl argued that “for most people Parasocial relationships serve as supplement to orthosocial contact” (qtd. in Tsao p.2). This implies that Parasocial relationships can play an important role of boosting peoples’ confidence. This may be more important especially in teenagers since it lays a good foundation towards building a desirable identity. Conclusively, parasocial relationships form a basic part in today’s relationship and there is need to learn more about it and form mechanisms to reduce some of its negative impacts. Especially with advances in technology there is need for guardians and parents to be extra vigilant in ensuring that parasocial relationships are controlled. References Communication Theory, 19, 351-373. Hartmann, Tilo & Goldhoorn, Charlotte. (2011). Horton and Wohl revisited: Exploring viewers’ experience of parasocial interaction. Journal of communication, 61. 1104–1121. Horton, Donald & Wohl, Richard. (2006). Mass communication and para-social interaction: observations on intimacy at a distance. Particip@tions, 3.1. Klimmit, C., Hefner, D., & Vorderer, P. (2009). The video game experience as true identification: a theory of enjoyable alterations of players self-perception. Nicole, Henry. (2011). Programs celebrity verses non-celebrity: parasocial relationships with characters in reality-based television. Thesis. Rubin, M., and Perse, M. (1987). Audience activity and soap opera involvement: A uses and effects investigation. Human Communication Research, 14, 246–268. Tsao, Chinhsi. (n.d). Research on parasocial involvement: An overview. Department of mass communication, Hsuan Tzang University. 1-21. Read More