Viewers have become increasingly invested in the lives of digital personalities, which, in extreme cases, lead to the development of parasocial relationships — a one sided relationship in which a person develops a strong sense of connection with someone they don’t actually know, most often celebrities or media personalities.

Senior Chiho Moriyama started posting content on TikTok in 2022, amassing over 200,000 followers after a few viral videos. Over time, Moriyama started getting video requests from her followers, and now mostly posts makeup tutorials. 

“I started posting videos because I really liked anime, and I just wanted to post videos about it to find people with similar interests as me,” Moriyama said. “People in my comments would be like, ‘Makeup tutorial’ or ‘Hair tutorial,’ so I started focusing more on that.”

13.6 million

people viewed senior Chiho Moriyama‘s most-viewed TikTok. In the video, Moriyama showed a step-by-step makeup tutorial.

From the perspective of a follower, senior Reese Hickey finds inspiration, motivation and entertainment from following her favorite creators and influencers on social media like Ruby Cruz and Maya Hawke. 

“What first drew me to them was their TV shows, and I stayed because I became emotionally attached to their life,” Hickey said. “They give me motivation to get up every day because they’re hot, and I think they’re fun and pretty to look at.”

Hickey frequently DMs celebrities and talks to them as if she knows them personally. 

“Sometimes I’ll swipe up on their story and be like, ‘Yeah, work it,’” said Hickey. “They don’t respond to me unfortunately, but that’s my friend, like that’s my close personal friend.”

#ootd

61.5 million posts on TikTok 

466 million posts on Instagram

#grwm

22 million posts on TikTok 

9.6 million posts on Instagram

#influencer

8.6 million posts on TikTok 

53.5 million posts on Instagram

When it comes to people commenting on her videos, Moriyama’s perspective has shifted after spending more time on the app as a creator.

“The first video that went viral, I read every single comment. If I didn’t like it, I deleted it,” Moriyama said. “I used to filter comments. I used to ban so many words, but now, I don’t care because [I] take it with a grain of salt. They don’t know me.”

Despite Moriyama’s rational perspective on online hate, some comments still stand out to her. 

“A lot of people are like, ‘You don’t know it yet, but you and I are best friends in my mind.’ I think people say that because they have similar interests as me and just assume I’m the same person as them,” Moriyama said. “I’m like, ‘Wait, you don’t even know me.’” 

With a social media presence comes the opportunity for people to spread hateful comments and messages without repercussions. 

“There’s this one DM that I got that I can’t forget about,” Moriyama said. “I made a video that was like, ‘How I think I sound because I don’t cuss,’ and I got a DM being like, ‘Do you think you’re cool for not cussing? Just because you don’t cuss doesn’t make you better than anyone else. That doesn’t make you a good person.’ They sent different paragraphs to me on two different accounts. I just deleted it and blocked them. It made me realize that people view me based on one video.”

Sophomore Hawoul Shin had a similar start as Moriyama and began posting dancing videos on TikTok for personal enjoyment.

“I just [wanted] to share my content for the world to see,” Shin said. “When my first video did pretty well, I got motivated to keep posting every day.”

1.6 million

people viewed sophomore Hawoul Shin‘s most-viewed TikTok. In the video, Shin, who primarily posts dancing videos, danced to a trending audio. 

In contrast to Moriyama’s experience, Shin expresses a more positive relationship with his followers.

“I might not know who they are, but I think about my supporters all the time,” Shin said. “They really matter. I really appreciate them.”

Moriyama’s carefully curated online presence gives her insight into the lives of people with an even bigger following. 

“This is such a tiny portion of my life. They think of me as the persona I created, which is a cute, innocent Japanese girl that doesn’t cuss,” Moriyama said. “I just think, ‘Oh, I bet everyone’s hiding everything about themselves’ because if I’m hiding so much about myself as a micro influencer, that means celebrities… we don’t know anything about them. Online, you can hide anything.” 

When asked about her opinion on parasocial relationships, Moriyama says they’re unhealthy, weird and delusional. 

“I feel like it affects your real life,” Moriyama said. “They don’t even know you. They’ll never know you. They don’t care about you at all. They never think about you, and you’re thinking about them all the time.”

Occasionally, these parasocial relationships cross over into real life in potentially frightening incidents. Strangers have come up to Moriyama after recognizing her from TikTok. One fan found her at a track meet.

“She was like, ‘Oh, my God, I watch you all the time. You’re so pretty,’” Moriyama said. “The second time, I was at Valley Fair, and this group of girls started yelling at me. They were like, ‘I think I know you.’ After I got home, one of them DM’d me, and they were like, ‘I’m so sorry that I yelled at you. I should have just said hi to you. I love your videos.’”

Although Hickey finds enjoyment in interacting with creators online, she keeps her relationship with social media personalities healthy and cautions against intense infatuation with celebrities. 

“I love them so much, but they don’t even know I exist,” Hickey said. “If you’re addicted to a parasocial relationship, you need to do some self reflection and calm down. That’s just insane.”

Moriyama provides perspective on influencers’ relationships with their fans through her own relationship with her followers and the “bean soup theory.”

“I read [the comments] as the same voice. I don’t think of them as this person with this life. They’re just my viewers,” Moriyama said. “There’s a video about this woman making bean soup, and one comment said, ‘What if you don’t like beans?’ Basically, people are always going to think about themselves. They’re always going to think everyone owes them something.”