Why Strangers Online Feel Like Friends: Dr. Jess Maddox on Parasocial Relationships, Kidfluencers & Social Media
Sarah speaks with Dr. Jess Maddox about what parasocial relationships actually are, why they are not inherently harmful and how social media has intensified them by making interactions with creators feel increasingly reciprocal.
Why can watching someone online begin to feel like knowing them, and when does that attachment become unhealthy?
In this episode of Parents Uncharted, Sarah speaks with Dr. Jess Maddox, an associate professor of media studies at the University of Georgia and founding editor-in-chief of Creator and Influencer Studies.
Jess explains what parasocial relationships actually are, why they are not inherently harmful and how social media has intensified them by making interactions with creators feel increasingly reciprocal. Together, Sarah and Jess explore how influencers and platforms cultivate intimacy to build engagement, loyalty and profit.
The conversation examines why family content creates especially powerful attachments. When audiences watch children grow up and are invited into intimate family moments, they may begin to feel like relatives or stakeholders in that child’s life, even though the child never chose that relationship.
Sarah and Jess discuss “TikTok aunties,” the anger audiences sometimes express when parents remove their children from social media, and how children themselves form parasocial relationships with kidfluencers. Young viewers may struggle to distinguish friendship from entertainment and advertising, especially when content is designed to feel casual and authentic.
They also explore Reddit snark communities and “anti-fandom,” where intense dislike can begin to resemble fandom and escalate into harassment, surveillance or stalking.
The episode concludes with practical guidance for parents and creators: teach children that the people they follow are not their friends, remind them that social media is a curated representation of reality, advocate for stronger digital literacy education and always prioritize a child’s dignity and safety over audience growth.
Chapters
(00:00) Introduction
(01:32) What Does “Parasocial” Actually Mean?
(03:38) Why Parasocial Relationships Are Not Always Bad
(05:26) When Online Attachment Becomes Unhealthy
(07:05) The “1.5-Way” Social Media Relationship
(09:04) Influencer Fandom, Loyalty and Online Teams
(10:15) How Creators Cultivate Parasocial Relationships
(12:49) How Platforms Encourage Emotional Attachment
(14:12) Why Family Content Feels So Intimate
(16:33) When Viewers Feel Entitled to Parenting Decisions
(17:18) The Difference Between Intimacy and Exploitation
(20:38) Can Parents Ethically Build Parasocial Relationships Around Children?
(24:26) What Happens When Parents Remove Their Children Online
(25:03) “We Made You Famous, You Owe Us”
(26:19) The Problem With “TikTok Aunties”
(28:01) Comparison, Aspiration and Consumerism
(29:33) How Algorithms Exploit Vulnerable Moments
(30:46) When Children Confuse Advertising With Friendship
(33:05) Signs a Child’s Attachment May Be Becoming Unhealthy
(34:47) Reddit Snark and Anti-Fandom
(38:19) When Snark Becomes Harassment or Stalking
(40:53) Why Fans Sometimes Become Haters
(42:03) What Parents Should Teach Children
About Dr. Jess Maddox:
Jessica Maddox is an Associate Professor of Media Studies in the Department of Entertainment and Media Studies at the University of Georgia. Her research focuses on content creators, influencers, and social media platforms.
She is the author of Anatomy of an Internet Scandal: How Content Creators and Audiences Fuel the Outrage Machine (University of California Press, 2027) and The Internet is for Cats: How Animal Images Shape Our Digital Lives (Rutgers University Press, 2023).
Since 2023, she has been involved in a U.S. federal policy coalition for child social media labor laws, and has testified in numerous states on child influencer protection bills. She is the founding Editor-in-Chief of the academic journal Creator & Influencer Studies and is on the academic advisory circle of the American Influencer Council.
Connect with Dr. Jess Maddox:
TikTok: @drjess21
Instagram: @jessmaddox21
Threads: @jessmaddox21
Connect with Sarah Adams:
https://momuncharted.com/
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https://www.tiktok.com/@mom.uncharted
http://parentsuncharted.com/
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https://www.tiktok.com/@parents.uncharted
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