Parasocial Relationships in 2025: How Digital Idols, AI Influencers, and Holograms Are Redefining Human Connection
Ever felt closer to a tiktoker than neighbor next door?
Introduction:
Ever wondered why you feel closer to a tiktoker, youtuber or an instagram influencer more than a sibling living on the other side of the city? Imagine scrolling at midnight or listening to a stranger’s podcast with gaze fixed on the roof and feeling them close to heart. They don’t even know you or acknowledge your existence—yet it feels like you belong.
That’s the power of digital idols; they turn screens to stages and strangers to companions.
You may never get to meet them yet watching their daily uploads, streams, and content makes you feel them closer into your imagination. This phenomenon is never new but it has gotten stronger than ever in 2025 with the rise of AI avatars, K-pop idols, digital influencers etc. Psychologist call this a parasocial relationship.
Parasocial Relations:
One-sided attraction that people experience towards media personalities, fictional characters, popular internet figures, AI driven idols, holograms are categorized as parasocial relations. The object of attraction may not be actually present but can be found on screens, storybooks, mangas etc.
The Concept of Crush:
A very popular question celebrities answer in interviews is about their childhood crush. Having a crush on actors, celebrities, animation characters, athletes and singers is also a parasocial relationship. You don’t know them physically and are not related, they are not part of your lives—but feel close for you see them in a light that reflects your emotions and imagination.
This emotional phenomenon is part of a broader idea: the concept of a crush, where attraction is less about reality and more about the version of someone we create in our minds.
Related: Dead Actress Tragedy
Escapism and Emotional Comfort:
Another phenomenon also barges in when parasocial relations begin. That’s escapism. For sake of emotional comfort and sympathy people start resonating with their favorite idols and start seeing them as an alternative for what they want to be or experience.
While listening to a singer’s lyrics or tuning in to a stream or watching a vlogger, you enter into a relationship that demands nothing but provides relief, warmth and safety.
For example, a comment from song by TXT “Deja Vu” says:
Internet idols provide emotional support without demanding anything in return. Unlike real world relationships where conflicts exist and compromises are made, parasocial relations provide a window for guaranteed love, safety and comfort from a distance. They basically fill in emotional gaps allowing you to escape your bitter reality for a while. It’s an online nicotine basically.
Another comment says:
Note the number of likes and replies; it is the number of people resonating with the ones that are just inside their screens.
For someone who is isolated, stressed, or misunderstood, a digital idol becomes more than entertainment—they become a quiet companion.
Related: Tekken Idols
Culture & Technology Shaping Idols:
Rise of K-pop, YouTube, Facebook:
Various trends and cultures breed variety of idols. Around 2010, with the rising popularity of YouTube and Facebook, youtubers like Shane Dawson, Ryan Higa, PewDiePie and many fitness and beauty blogs reached to heights of their careers. They were considered as the epitome of entertainment in their times.
Then arose another idol culture; K-pop. By early 2000, TVXQ and BoA from K-pop gained popularity for their music followed by BTS, Blackpink, Exo, BIGBANG and more touching the hearts of millions worldwide.
Future of Virtual influencers: AI Idols:
By the late 2020s, AI driven avatars and idols are coming to light. Virtual K-pop groups like PLAVE and MAVE are growing and gaining fans.
For instance, PLAVE members may exist only as virtual characters, but they perform like any real K-pop group. Through advanced motion capture and AI-generated voices, they sing, dance, and interact in authentic ways and approach humanly.
Virtual groups don’t face the same limitations as human idols: they don’t tire, age, or step away from the spotlight. At the same time, these digital idols raise new questions about authenticity, emotional bonds, and the future of fan culture.
Future of Virtual influencers: Holograms:
Alongwith virtual K-pop groups, holographic performers are also gaining attention. Hatsune Miku, one of the earliest examples, still fills stadiums with fans who cheer as though she were standing right in front of them.
AI influencers like Shudu, Lil Miquela and IMMA all were programmed and coded in different countries but are gaining appreciation worldwide.
⦁ Shudu is known for collaborating with brands like BMW and Hyundai.
⦁ Lil Miquela is a fictional singer capturing fans and reviving fashion by collaborating with PRADA.
⦁ IMMA is revolutionizing the scene of Japanese AI influence and bringing culture and technology concurrently to resonate universally.
Benefits and Dangers of Parasocial Relationships:
While parasocial relationships are more of an illusion than a comforting relationship, they seldom become a reason for happiness in the following ways:
⦁ Emotional Comfort: Internet idols bring comfort and relief to their fans since it is only one sided relationship. You receive love and are perceived as important without any compromise and deal unlike real world. It’s generally a shelter from loneliness, anxiety and stress for most.
⦁ Inspiration and Motivation: Fans and supporters often adopt positive habits and some also choose creative path of the idols. For example; Justin Bieber is a very vocal fan of Usher and Chris Brown and used to upload their cover songs on YouTube before entering the industry.
⦁ Community Belonging: Joining fan groups and communities eliminate the sense of isolation, loneliness and worthlessness. Being with like minded peers brings confidence and increases self-esteem.
Regardless of how beautiful or mesmerizing an illusion is, it is meant to end; so it will. But the finale may bring some bad memories and habits—hard to erase and hard to eliminate.
⦁ Unrealistic Expectations: People set up unrealistic expectations believing their idols are perfect and perfectionists and hence pushing themselves to their limits. This unhealthy comparison leads to mental health issues like self worthlessness and lower self-esteem.
Related: Bullying
⦁ Emotional Dependency: Reliance is dangerous in excess. When you depend on anyone from anywhere beyond real boundaries, it exploits your brain. Parasocial relations decrease the love and need for human relations replacing them with fake and imagined ones.
⦁ Commercial Exploitation: Idols and influencers, even AI influencers are tied to brands which sometimes blurs the line between genuine influencer—fan connection. For example, people rushed to buy Labubu when Lisa of Blackpink was spotted with a one on her bag.
Conclusion:
Screens today aren’t just glass—they are mirrors of our longings. Though parasocial relationships may never text us back, yet they shape our playlists, fashion, and even late-night thoughts. From holograms on stage to influencers in our feed, the distance between “idol/ influencer” and “imaginary friend” is becoming pencil-thin.
Maybe that’s the real twist of our times: we’re not just watching influencers anymore… we’re quietly writing them into our own stories.
In short: Do we truly know them — or just the image they show us?
Reference and Further Reading:
- Shudu’s instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shudu.gram?
- Lil Miquela’s instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lilmiquela?
- IMMA’s instagram: https://www.instagram.com/imma.gram?
- Ryan Higa YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ryanhiga
- Pewdiepie YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@PewDiePie
- Shane Dawson YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@shanedawson
- TXT Deja Vu Music Video: https://youtu.be/DiHUEWBRQEI?si=BVL02jVbif7ghrrJ
These virtual relations are growing and may leave humans alone. We might have nothing to share with our grandkids except imaginary friends and inexpressible scenarios we imagine.