Parasocialize.
Keeping you comfortably connected to the worldwide one-sided web.
The top 8
1. The letter from the NESTRugrats, 1991
2. Tommy finds the gun and it worksRugrats, 1995
3. The grouch on the telethonThe grouch, Sesame Street, 1990s
4. Hey Arnold, said to a room where nobody is ArnoldHey Arnold!, 1996DRAGON5. The dragon that waitedDragon Tales, 1999
6. Mighty Morphin, you are the rangerPower Rangers, 1993DOUG7. Doug's dad watching the TV in the darkDoug, 1991
8. The rabbit in the hatAnimaniacs, 1990Ten ways it shows up · one story from each
The economist says we worship idols in sport, politics, cinema and business
The useful move here is refusing the special pleading.
6 more → P CREATORPodcast listeners score suspiciously high on parasocial attachment
Podcast listening is the single most parasocial habit in the English language and it is very rarely discussed as such, because it does not look like the stereotype.
6 more → W CHARACTERWhy fiction sticks when nothing else does
Fictional bonds are the well-studied ones because they are the only ones with a fire exit.
2 more → A COMPANIONA study found AI updates can feel like breakups
Here is a finding I would like every AI company in the world to have to read before they ship a silent model swap.
9 more → T WORLDThe Neighbours finale broke something in the schedule
What gets lost in the parasocial framing is how much of this is civic.
3 more → T BRANDThe business press has started writing about parasocial attachment and calling it customer obsession
I want to be fair here: companies genuinely are trying to know their customers, and most of them are bad at it in boring ways.
5 more → A CROSSOVERA 27-year marriage ends and the coverage is about what the public felt
I do not think a stranger's marriage ending is your business and I do not think you are obliged to care.
2 more → H CONTESTHouse of the Dragon ended and the fans are furious at the show, not the characters
This is a fight about a story and it is being fought with the vocabulary of a parasocial grievance, which is why it is so ugly.
2 more → T GRIEFTwo women died in the same month and the discourse is about whether you are allowed to be sad
Here is a test I would put to anyone who finds the parasocial grief coverage embarrassing: would you say the same thing if the person who died were a friend of yours?
12 more → A DANGERA fan was convicted of stalking Jungkook. Twenty-two visits. One hundred and thirty-three doorbell rings
I am not going to do the thing where I explain this away, and I notice that every parasocial site quietly routes around this section, which is the single biggest reason those sites are still not taken seriously.
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