What is celebrity culture and why it matters?
The word ‘celebrity’ literally means someone who is a professional in their own field of activity. A celebrity is highly known in public and has an influence over people of a society. In the modern world, celebrities have attracted both people and social media’s interest. The main feature of celebrities is that they come to the center of attention of the people via social media, in a way that other non-celebrity people can’t.
In this context, Instagram, where celebrities can be directly in connection with their fans, in addition to sharing their photos and more, plays an important role.
The importance of celebrities lies not only in their popularity among people, but also, for the most part, in the emotional effect their acts have on people.
Reasons for the rise of celebrity culture:
Digitalization of the youths’ lifestyle: The youth population’s lifestyle is getting more digital and internet-based, in which mobile phones appear as the main source of everything. Although these current entertainment items help unlimited access to an abundance of information, Smartphones cause people to spend too much of their time on social media apps rather than in real life.
Consumerism of the society: Some consider the consumerism of society, which is both the reason and result of celebrity social activities, the original reason for fans’ interest.
Overrating of celebrities: Nowadays, celebrities are not only attractive concepts but also they have prestige in their own right. Getting validation through becoming the symbols of modern culture gives them the capability of forming the cultural values of people. This process results in young people trying to prove themselves more than before and leads them to believe in fame as a valuable human quality.
Decrease in institutional trust: It stem from the population’s lack of trust in institutions and authorities’ actions and decisions, and the poor job media entities are doing. Censorship and hiding reality, as well as the lack of responsibility of officials, lead to people trying to find alternatives means of communicating their values and opinions.
Inequality in society: The more unequal and unjust a society is – economically and politically – the harder, more limited it becomes for younger people to achieve their goals. All the while, the celebrity culture instills in the young generation the illusion of fast realization of their dreams.