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I think parasocial relationships have mostly been an attempt to fill the gap left by the lack of real friendships.

Much like junk food being a substitute for a lack of real nutrition, what happens when the desire for real nutrition atrophies?

Some people just accept this attempted solution isn't going to fill the hole properly and stick with it anyways.

Others may get frustrated enough to make an attempt to fix the problem for real, only to re-remember how much harder that is in our current society and re-remember why they reached for this attempted solution in the first place.

Why not both? The hyperreal is a hard landscape to navigate.

I put 'mostly' and not 'entirely' because I do think it is both.

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