I will preface this by saying that I enjoy watching TV and listening to music as much as the next millennial. Johnny Depp is my favorite actor (especially his role in "Pirates of the Caribbean"), Jason Mraz has an incredible voice, and Amy Poehler is hilarious.
But I strive to not know anything about their lives. Snapchat is cool, but when scrolling through the articles on Cosmo and Buzzfeed, I scroll right past those that say "Celebrities Doing Things" and "Everything You Need To Know About Bladabla's Relationship." My reasoning? If I ever got famous, I wouldn't want to be stalked the way they are and it hurts my body image. I don't need to know anything about anyone else's relationship(s).
The only con: I suck at celebrity trivia. Which I'm not super interested in playing anyway, so...
I recently saw an article about some guy hiding from paparazzi. In fact, a quick search on Google for it will bring thousands of pictures and articles. One man went so far as to wear explicits all over his clothes and face so that any pictures that were taken weren't valid. If someone is trying to hide, why are you still taking pictures of them? Leave them be. It's legalized stalking and it's creepy.
Another reason I don't stalk is because it causes me to feel bad about my body. I always see tabloids in stores that have two things on the cover: how someone lost a significant amount of weight and someone getting divorced. I don't feel the need to lose weight or change my body (with the exception of building stamina for the Camino this summer).
Looking at magazine covers and articles that show girls with flat stomachs and how to lose 10 pounds in two weeks can't be psychologically beneficial. Especially not when they give bad advice on how to lose the weight. Equally guys with ripped abs and huge biceps must be detrimental to guys.
For now I will keep doing what I'm doing. I have better things to focus on like graduating college, and I can't live my own life if I'm stalking someone else's. Is this the common way of thinking about these things? Obviously not because so many tabloids still exist in stores, on TV, and online.
Maybe someday our society will focus on more important issues like recycling and cat videos, but until that day I will keep avoiding famous people's problems like the plague. How do you feel about our society's obsession with what famous people do?
