My parasocial relationships started over the radio, I suppose, and TV took that to a whole new level (simultaneously) especially with the advent of music video. Now it's Social Media with the Stars, all the time...

When I was young, it was a rare thrill to interact with my idols. To accost them for a signature after a concert. To send fan mail and receive a personal postcard in return. Once, there was a surrealist late-night host who I met by chance at a Burger King with my mother. He was subsequently arrested with charges of child endangerment!

So now we're on the Internet and it's so easy to become a fan, a patron, a supporter, of "stars" and "influencers" who are so niche that your money and attention make a difference, and they can return that attention with personal comments and reactions, or even commission works for you. In days of yore, it was the Church and State and wealthy aristocrats who commissioned art, and now I could fund a KickStarter or Patreon for next to nothing. You've got private/semiprivate livestreams where they just read your comments and react. And we remain perfect strangers.

Thankfully, there are ways to stay connected to the community and maintain healthy relationships too. Since before the pandemic, I've "gone to church" on YouTube and I do see familiar names in the live-chat. You can attend city council meetings and other real stuff of local interest. Your support group can stay connected via Zoom.

But these pernicious ideas that a celebrity is your best friend, that your attraction to a woman will be requited or reciprocated, that a personal connection has been made, that's dangerous and a growing threat to our collective safety and sanity.

Books also build intimate parasocial relationships. People feel a sense of loss when finishing a book.

Yes, that is true and they feel a loss after a 7 second video.

I believe living in an environment that favors short attention spans were usually dangerous. Monitoring constant change is what one does when they are alert.

I see the real issue is the duration of the reward cycle without building to a larger idea.

By definition, you can’t build a parasocial relationship with an object. You could argue about parasocial attachment to characters I guess but even then I’m sceptical. I understand what you mean but parasocial is not the correct way to describe it.

Cambride Dictionary explicitly includes books in its definition "involving or relating to a connection between a person and someone they do not know personally, for example a famous person or a character in a book: "

Maybe I should have specified that I meant the characters in a book, I thought that would be clear from the context.