Explainer: Parasocial, word that defines 2025

ON August 26, American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift took to Instagram to announce her engagement to footballer Travis Kelce — “Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married”. The moment created a global frenzy, with millions of fans reacting as though a close friend had shared life-changing news. The emotional outpour led to Cambridge Dictionary declaring ‘parasocial’ as the Word of the Year for 2025.

Among the several words to be added or updated this year, parasocial is defined 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”.

Lexicologist Colin McIntosh explains, “Parasocial captures the 2025 zeitgeist. It’s a great example of how language changes. What was once a specialist academic term has become mainstream. Millions of people are engaged in parasocial relationships; many more are simply intrigued by their rise. The data reflects that, with the Cambridge Dictionary website seeing spikes in lookups for parasocial.”

The other new entrants to the dictionary include slangs like skibidi (gibberish term popularised by viral animated video series), tradwife (short for traditional wife) and delulu (it is a play on the word delusional). The Word of the Year for 2024 was ‘manifest’, looked up almost 1,30,000 times on the Cambridge Dictionary website.

One-sided connection

‘Parasocial’ was first coined in 1956 by University of Chicago sociologists Donald Horton and R Richard Wohl in their influential paper, ‘Mass Communication and Para-Social Interaction: Observations on Intimacy at a Distance’. They observed that the new mass media — radio, television, and the movies — created “the illusion of face-to-face relationship with the performer”.

Seven decades later, the term has become even more relevant. Shaped by digital intimacy, social media users today are forming illusory connections with celebrities, influencers, fictional characters, and even AI companions. These relationships are shaping how millions love, grieve, and imagine closeness. Often, such delusionary bonds are accompanied by strong emotional outbursts and extreme reactions.

Last year, American singer-songwriter Chappell Roan, known for her queer-pop music, became a victim of intense parasocial behaviour. In August 2024, she posted videos and statements that she was being stalked by ‘abusive’ fans, who she said, were contacting her friends and family, and approaching her aggressively at events.

Very active on social media, Roan had been candid about her journey with bipolar disorder and mental health issues. In response to her social media posts and confessional lyrics, people expressed real emotions with their one-sided connection. She faced much backlash from fans after she established personal boundaries.

World of make-belief

Prof Shamama Mirza, Department of Sociology, JNMPG College, Lucknow, observes that “at one time or another, we’ve all experienced parasocial bonds, but there has been a rise in such behaviours over the past four to five years”.

“During the Covid-19 era, people became dependent on parasocial relationships to fill the void of real ones. They got too dependent on them, leading to unreal standards of relationships, individual identity loss, and a sort of possessiveness over the influencer. Such influence can sometimes turn toxic in nature and can lead to stalking, hyper-sexualisation, infantalisation, or even extreme mental health problems,” she says.

The youth are most vulnerable to unhealthy parasocial bonds, considering that it is their belief that a person with a great fan following must be doing something good, says Prof Mirza. “Toxic media influencer Andrew Tate greatly managed to spread misogynistic and aggressive ideologies that generations tried their very best to erase, leading to a massive setback towards the goal of a society free of misogyny or ideologies harming another set of people,” she adds.

Simone Schnall, Professor of Experimental Social Psychology at the University of Cambridge, UK, notes, “We’ve entered an age where many people form unhealthy and intense parasocial relationships with influencers. 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.”

Choosing parasocial as the word of the year thus is not just a linguistic trend, it signals a cultural moment.