Everything has gone high tech. The ritual of sitting around with friends sharing a cup of coffee and a little gossip has moved into the digital age. In the days before the internet highway, “catching up on the news” meant visiting with a friend and discussing the latest bit of gossip. Now, the morning cup of coffee is shared with a computer and celebrity gossip. Why are we so obsessed with what happens to people we may never meet?
For example, for the past several days I have diligently followed everything I can find on what William and Kate have done on the trip to Canada and Los Angeles. What did she wear today? What did they do? My question for myself after spending so much time reading about their trip is why. What grand purpose in my life is going to be helped by my obsession with this couple I will never meet? I have followed their trip as closely as I would a family member or close friend. Their trip is over, and I am now left with the hollow feeling of someone who has been on a party bender for a week. Like a college student after spring break, I am thinking I can’t believe I did that.
The new royal couple isn’t the only celebrities we follow. We have to know who is having a baby and when. The only reason we would really need to know these details would be if we were going to be invited to the baby shower. I am certain invitations are not sent out to the public. We also want to know who is getting married, divorced, or dating, but the most intrusive things I have seen lately are the pictures showing celebrities doing everyday things. Why is that important? Everyone needs gas in the car and food in the house. Just because you make a living in the public eye should not mean you have to be at work all the time. What is sadder than the pictures of people shopping and pumping gas is the fact that I actually look at the pictures and devour the information like an addiction. The world of gossip has come down to the fact that most of us are celebrity gossip junkies.
There are different levels of celebrity gossip junkies. There are the “closet junkies” who read the tabloids when they are alone so no one will see them. These are the people who pretend they have no idea who Brad and Angelina are. The next level is the “I only read this when I’m bored junkies”. These are the people who pretend they are forced to read the gossip columns at places like a doctor’s waiting room. Then there are the “celebrity junkie fanatics”. At this level, writers for gossip magazines are your suppliers and your daily fix is needed to survive. These are the people who discuss celebrities like they work in the next cubicle.
Gossipers are no longer confined to finding information on a local level. We have gone global!
