How We Treat People Like Entertainment
We live in a world where people are often treated less like real human beings and more like characters in a show. Think about how we watch reality TV, follow influencers online, or even gossip about coworkers. It’s easy to forget that the people on our screens or in our stories have real feelings and lives outside of what we see.
When we turn someone into entertainment, it changes how we relate to them. We start to expect drama, excitement, or something interesting from their lives—just like we do from movies or TV shows. This can make us less patient with ordinary moments and more focused on the next big thing happening around us.
A lot of this comes from something called parasocial relationships. That’s when you feel close to someone you only know through media—like a celebrity or an online personality—even though you’ve never met them in person. You might care about what happens to them as if they were your friend, but really, you only know the version they show the world.
This kind of relationship isn’t always bad. It can be fun and comforting to follow along with someone else’s life when your own feels stressful or boring. But it can also make us forget that these are real people with their own struggles and privacy needs.
Sometimes, treating others as entertainment means ignoring their humanity for our own amusement or distraction. We might laugh at mistakes made by public figures without thinking about how it affects them personally. Or we might get so caught up in following every detail of someone else’s life that we neglect our own relationships with friends and family.
It also makes it harder for us to tell what is real anymore. When everything is edited for maximum impact—whether on social media, news channels, or reality shows—it blurs the line between truth and performance.
Being aware of this helps us stay grounded in reality instead of getting lost in spectacle after spectacle every day just because everyone else seems interested too! If nothing else: remember there are actual humans behind every story shared online; sometimes all they want is kindness rather than being turned into content meant purely for laughs (or tears).
So next time you scroll through feeds full of viral moments: pause before sharing another meme at somebody’s expense; consider whether your curiosity respects boundaries; ask yourself if viewing others mainly as sources-of-entertainment keeps missing chances at genuine connection right here among those who matter most nearby instead!
