Proactively Parasocial
nicklandolfi.comI think it's interesting that at least one end of a parasocial relationship seems to involve relating not to a person (not even in a pretend way) but to a collective of persons where you don't even know the individuals. This is what the relationship looks like on the side of artists, youtubers, but also comments who address their posts as "hey r/something" or "hey HN" (or threads like this) - or bloggers.
Feels to me, that is a different kind of parasocial relationship than the pretend interpersonal relationship of relating to a specific celebrity.
What the author is describing sounds a lot like idolatry.
I'm not sure I agree in general, but one of the roles most associated with intense parasociality is literally called “idol”, so there's that.
That's a really good point.
We pray to gods and make sacrifices to them but generally do not interact with them directly. It seems to fit squarely in the definition of parasocial.