Hot take, but for all that unhealthy parasocial relationships get talked about, especially in the mcyt sphere, we don't talk enough about how healthy parasocial relationships are things that exist as well???
Healthy parasociality are what allow what happenes when you see someone's work they create & recognizing yourself in it, feeling less alone because it exists, imagining new possibilities you thought off limits for yourself, feeling comforted by what someone said or did or made & released into the world without ever actually talking to them. That's one of the biggest examples I see people having. Like, feeling represented by a creator just making cool shit & presenting part of themself is a parasocial interaction, & I see people talk about these things all the time without acknowledging that.
It can become unhealthy if you start placing expectations or demands on them or hinging your emotional well being on them, 'cause damn, y'all don't truly know that creator & they overwhelmingly most likely don't know you like. exist or whatever, you don't get to treat them like they are actually your friend or have to listen to you.
But just hearing someone existing, hearing someone's life experiences they share, & having a positive emotional reaction to it is like. normal. & healthy. & not bad in & of itself just because you don't actually know each other.
Anyway, this post was actually supposed be about how for me personally, the crux of healthy parasocial relationships is deriving just the most joy out of strangers having enjoyable & fulfilling experiences. I love seeing creators get to hang out irl or having a cool new opportunity to do something exciting or creating something they are proud of, & then just getting hit with so much compersion that makes my dang soul glow from being so happy for them. I love when I see people I will never actually know having good experiences & my brain does the contentedness chemicals because someone else's delight enriches my life without me ever even talking to them.
Like... that's really the good shit right there. Happiness spreading like pollen from a freshly opened flower, posts on the internet knocking into the blooms & spreading secondhand joy around the world.
