Are
celebrities bad for you?
Celebrities
are everywhere nowadays: on TV, in magazines, online. Is this
preoccupation with famous people harmless fun or is it bad for us?
How many people are truly obsessed with modern media idols? And on
the other side of the coin, can fame be harmful to the celebrities?
Studies
suggest that the vast majority of teenagers do not really worship
celebrities. Researchers have identified three kinds of fans. About
15% of young people have an ‘entertainment-social’ interest. They
love chatting about their favourite celebrities with friends and this
does not appear to do any harm.
Another
5% feel that they have an ‘intense-personal’ relationship with a
celebrity. Sometimes they see them as their soulmate and find
that they are often thinking about them, even when they don’t want
to. These people are more at risk from depression and anxiety. If
girls in this group idolise a female star with a body they consider
to be perfect, they are more likely to be unhappy with their own
bodies.
That
leaves 2% of young people with a ‘borderline-pathological’
interest. They might say, for example, they would spend several
thousand pounds on a paper plate the celebrity had used, or that they
would do something illegal if the celebrity asked them to. These
people are in most danger of being seriously disturbed.
What
about the celebrities themselves? A study in the USA tried to measure
narcissism or extreme self-centredness, when feelings of
worthlessness and invisibility are compensated for by turning into
the opposite: excessive showing off. Researchers looked at 200
celebrities, 200 young adults with Masters in Business Administration
(a group known for being narcissistic) and a nationally
representative sample using the same questionnaire. As was expected,
the celebrities were significantly more narcissistic than the MBAs
and both groups were a lot more narcissistic than the general
population.
Four
kinds of celebrity were included in the sample. The most narcissistic
were the ones who had become famous through reality TV shows – they
scored highest on vanity and willingness to exploit other people.
Next came comedians, who scored highest on exhibitionism and feelings
of superiority. Then came actors, and the least narcissistic were
musicians. One interesting result was that there was no connection
between narcissism and the length of time the celebrity had been
famous. This means that becoming famous probably did not make the
celebrities narcissistic – they already were beforehand.
So,
what can we learn from this? People who are very successful or famous
tend to be narcissists and are liable to be ruthless, self-seeking
workaholics. As we can see from celebrity magazines, they are also
often desperate and lonely. They make disastrous role models.
Are
celebrities bad for you?
Are
the sentences true or false?
1.
The article is about whether celebrity culture is harmful, for either
the public or the celebrities themselves.
2.
15% of teenagers have an interest in celebrities that probably isn't
a cause for concern.
3.
Young people who feel they have an 'intense-personal' relationship
with a celebrity do not experience any negative consequences related
to it.
4.
A study found that celebrities were more self-centred than business
administration masters students.
5.
Celebrities from reality TV were found to be the most vain and
exploitative.
6.
Actors were the least self-obsessed group of celebrities.
7.
The research concluded that the experience of being a celebrity made
people more narcissistic than they were previously.
8.
The author says that celebrities tend to exhibit negative qualities
and are therefore not good role models
