The New Culture of Idolising #goals

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, an idol is a person or thing that is greatly admired, loved, or revered.

Growing up, I didn't have one of those stereotypical idols that my friends had. Namely celebrities, musician, or historical figures, even. I never really understood the fascination of wanting to meet someone you don't really know, have everything they owned, or wanting to be like them. Actually, I still don't.

But why do people have idols?

The most logical answer that I could draw was that it makes life somewhat easier. To have someone to look up to means that you can have something to aspire to. It gives people, especially those of tender age, a direction -for lack of a better term. There are goals that you can identify, and there are steps that you can take to achieve them.

As an example, if you want to become a well known musician, your goals would be to be known, popular, rich, to have adoring fans, and win awards. The steps you can take are to go on a talent search (preferably one that's televised with millions of watchers), won the whole thing, sign with a record label, release catchy songs, be in commercials and have endorsements, and then repeat the last two steps. Of course, this is highly simplified.

To aspire to have someone's career is one thing, but often, fans take a step further. They want to be just like their idols. Same clothing, same look, same style. This is why endorsed products sell so well; fans would do anything and everything to be one step closer to being their idol.

The concept of idols have existed for many years, but in recent ones, the people that are idolised by the people have changed. "Traditional" celebrities are replaced by the more accessible personalities that are youtubers. Now bloggers and vloggers are the one "worshipped".

Their fans accounts for millions through different social platforms, and in the modern age, they are far more active and outspoken. The ability for fans to communicate with their youtube idols is what makes these newfound idols unique. They can tell their fans in real time what to buy, what they think, and what not to do. And almost scaringly, this has been found quite effective.

There is a charm to youtubers that makes them perfect for people to idolise. They seem to earn a lot of money for doing very little. Youtubers get to travel the world in luxury, doing what only a handful of people can realistically achieve. Becoming a luxury house owners costing hundreds of thousand of dollars in their 20s, with a perfect partner of a long term relationship to match. In short, they are what you would call #goals.

I can't help but wonder if this current trend is the way to go. Would you really trade all of your life's experiences for theirs?


xo,
Maria