<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
If you felt a personal connection with a celebrity this year, you likely weren’t alone.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That feeling led Cambridge Dictionary<\/a><\/span> to select “parasocial” as its 2025 word of the year. Parasocial<\/a> is defied as “involving or relating to a connection that someone feels between themselves and a famous person they do not know, a character in a book, film, TV series, etc., or an artificial intelligence.”\u00a0<\/p>\n It’s an academic term that has only been around for about 70 years, but it has now become mainstream, said Colin McIntosh, the lexical program manager for Cambridge Dictionary<\/p>\n “Millions of people are engaged in parasocial relationships; many more are simply intrigued by their rise,” McIntosh said in a statement. “The data reflects that, with the Cambridge Dictionary website seeing spikes in lookups for ‘parasocial.'”<\/p>\n A recent example of this happened when pop star Taylor Swift and NFL star Travis Kelce announced their engagement<\/a><\/span>. Many fans who have been captivated by Swift’s lyrics for years celebrated the moment<\/a><\/span> despite not actually knowing her or Kelce.\u00a0<\/p>\n But parasocial relationships can become problematic, Simone Schnall, a professor of experimental social psychology at the University of Cambridge, said.\u00a0<\/p>\n “We’ve entered an age where many people form unhealthy and intense parasocial relationships with influencers,” Schnall said. “This leads to a sense that people ‘know’ those they form parasocial bonds with, can trust them and even to extreme forms of loyalty. Yet it’s completely one sided.”<\/p>\n The trend is also evolving to include artificial intelligence.\u00a0<\/p>\n “Parasocial trends take on a new dimension as many people treat AI tools like ChatGPT as ‘friends,’ offering positive affirmations, or as a proxy for therapy. This is an illusion of a relationship and group think, and we know young people can be susceptible for this,” Schnall said.<\/p>\n Cambridge Dictionary’s announcement follows Dictionary.com naming “67”<\/a><\/span>\u00a0as its 2025 word of the year.<\/p>\n