Parasocial Named 2025 Word of the Year: Understanding One-Sided Digital Relationships
Key Takeaways
- Cambridge Dictionary declares ‘parasocial’ as 2025 Word of the Year
- Term describes one-sided emotional connections with celebrities, influencers, or AI
- Digital intimacy and social media have accelerated parasocial relationships
- Experts warn about potential mental health risks and toxic behaviors
The Cambridge Dictionary has declared ‘parasocial’ as its Word of the Year for 2025, recognizing the growing phenomenon of one-sided emotional connections between individuals and public figures they’ve never met.
The announcement follows Taylor Swift’s viral Instagram engagement post to Travis Kelce in August, which triggered massive emotional reactions from fans worldwide. This global response highlighted how parasocial relationships have become mainstream in digital culture.
What Does Parasocial Mean?
Cambridge Dictionary defines parasocial 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.”
Other new dictionary entries include slang terms like ‘skibidi’ (gibberish from viral videos), ‘tradwife’ (traditional wife), and ‘delulu’ (play on delusional). The 2024 Word of the Year was ‘manifest,’ searched nearly 130,000 times.
The Origins and Evolution
The term ‘parasocial’ originated in 1956 when University of Chicago sociologists Donald Horton and R Richard Wohl described how mass media created “the illusion of face-to-face relationship with the performer.”
Seventy years later, digital platforms have intensified these dynamics. Social media users now form illusory bonds with celebrities, influencers, fictional characters, and AI companions, shaping how millions experience love, grief, and imagined closeness.
These relationships often trigger strong emotional responses and extreme behaviors. American singer Chappell Roan experienced this firsthand in 2024 when she reported being stalked by ‘abusive’ fans who contacted her family and approached her aggressively at events.
Mental Health Implications
Professor Shamama Mirza from JNMPG College, Lucknow, notes that while most people experience parasocial bonds occasionally, such behaviors have surged 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,” she explains. “This dependency can lead to unreal relationship standards, identity loss, and possessiveness over influencers, sometimes escalating to stalking or serious mental health issues.”
Young people are particularly vulnerable, often assuming that popular influencers must be “doing something good.” Professor Mirza cites toxic influencer Andrew Tate as an example of how harmful ideologies can spread through these one-sided connections.
Simone Schnall, Professor of Experimental Social Psychology at Cambridge University, adds, “We’ve entered an age where many people form unhealthy and intense parasocial relationships with influencers. This creates false intimacy and extreme loyalty, despite being completely one-sided.”
The selection of ‘parasocial’ as Word of the Year reflects not just linguistic evolution but a significant cultural shift in how we form connections in the digital age.
