Everyone knows a fangirl or fanboy of a major celeb- rity—in past years, they have come to call themselves “Swifties” or “Beliebers,” creating social media pages to post pictures of and obsess over various celebrities. These actions were taken to celebrate and idolize their favorite stars and recognize them for being a great singer, actor or person in general. This behavior, however, can quickly become unhealthy. It is one thing to respect or love a certain celebrity, but people definitely should not be obsessed over them. This obsession creates unrealistic expectations of the perfect person, leads to lower self- esteem and assumes that celebrities are flawless people.

People, especially teenagers, should not get into the habit of obsessing over celebrities because it could lead to lower self-esteem. Social media is full of pictures and videos depicting people’s so-called “perfect” lives, and celebrities’ feeds are no different. With only a few exceptions, celebrities post only what they want their fan bases to see. Chances are, a part of a young person’s obsession with their favorite celebrity is due to the celebrity’s outward appearance. However, if celebrities are only posting professional, edited pictures, teens will develop the misconception that this is what they should look like naturally as well. This creates lower self-esteem in younger people at a time when their self-esteem is likely at the lowest point. Therefore, obsessing over celebrities’ looks is detrimental to the wellbeing of fans.

Additionally, many people believe that their favorite celebrity is perfect, and can do no wrong. Famous people are human too, however, and have the same types of flaws that normal people have. That being said, it is totally normal to like a celebrity despite, or maybe even because of, their imperfections. Their flaws remind people that it’s okay to make mistakes and not always be perfect. How- ever, most fans don’t obsess over celebrities because they display relatable qualities—they obsess over them with the notion that they are the example of a perfect person. Of course, there are exceptions to the common celebrity posts which only depict a perfect lifestyle. For example, Demi Lovato and Selena Gomez are two celebrities who have shared their hardships and celebrated their imperfections as aspects of themselves that they are still improving upon. This is not the behavior of most famous people, and it can be difficult for teens to distinguish reality from what is presented to them. As the saying goes, “nobody’s perfect,” and that includes celebrities.

Posts of celebrities’ perfect appearances and lives can lead to lower self-esteem as well as an unrealistic expectation of the perfect person throughout their fan bases. While teens are completely justified in look- ing up to famous people, they should not be obsessing over them—and they should definitely think realistically before idealizing their favorite stars’ platform.