parasocial
I learned today that this is Cambridge Dictionaryās Word of the Year 2025 and that a hyphenated form was coined by sociologists in the '50s:
Social scientists Donald Horton and R. Richard Wohl of the University of Chicago coined the term āpara-socialā in their 1956 paper, āMass Communication and Para-Social Interaction: Observations on Intimacy at a Distanceā, in the academic journal Psychology: Interpersonal and Biological Processes. They describe how the mass media of the time gave viewers the illusion of having a face-to-face relationship with performers.
I think I first became aware of the word while reading an article that I mentioned in another topic.
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Thatās a good word!
a one-sided, non-reciprocated connection that a person forms with someone they donāt know, such as a celebrity, influencer, or fictional character. It feels like a real friendship, but the other person is unaware of the relationshipās existence.
I have experienced this both ways. Kind of funny to think of it in terms of novels or TV shows, etc.
I wonder if there is āsemi-parasocialā where one side is simply easy more familiar with the other side but they have technically āmetā in some way. For example, an executive in a company may be extremely well known by every person in the company, but the executive may not know entry level employees very well or those on other teams, even if technically they have met, etc. Or thinking back to school, since my daughter was student body VP, everyone knew who she was, even though she didnāt know everyone. A lady today recognized my wife from when my wife was a teacher at her school, though Iām this case my wife had no idea who she was. 
I often have a lot more people recognize me and feel like they know me well when I have never even met them. I donāt mind it though.
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Looking for comments about WYZE Firmware and App updates.
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Iām feeling complacent at the moment. Hopefully my luck holds. 
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Great word, links and follow-up, boys!
Have you two met? 
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No, but Iām asocial or ābarelysocialā. (This isnāt true. Iām not exactly gregarious, but I do enjoy spending time with some fellow humans. The āparasocialā affliction thatās being described these days is troubling, and I donāt understand why so many people allow themselves to be manipulated in this way.)
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The older daughter in This is 40 (2012) melts down over the loss of Lost.
(The young actors in 40 were remarkable, I think.)
Bonding with Dad:
Sadie: I donāt make fun of your stupid Mad Men!
Pete: First of all, I donāt get worked up over Mad Men.
Sadie: Thatās because Mad Men sucks!
Pete: What Don Draper has gone through beats whatever Jack is running from on some freaking island.
Sadie: A bunch of people smoking in an office, itās stupid!
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Did you mean to post that in WaterCooler Music Section?
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No, Iām feeling untidy today. 
Still dribbling down from āparasocialā (in my dim bulb noodleā¦)
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We live in a world (according to carp.)
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