Are you a diehard Badger? A “Swiftie”? A “Barb”? “ARMY”? Would you judge someone who wasn’t? Would you try to ruin their life?
As ridiculous as that might sound, changes to internet pop culture in the wake of COVID-19 lockdowns have turned online media discourse volatile. In recent years, journalists and social media users alike have been “doxxed,” harassed, reported to employers and sent death threats by mobs of angry fans for as little as writing articles that “gently criticized Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour.”
This, while alarming on the surface, reveals a deeper problem: internet culture’s ability to blur the lines between so-called “fandom” and identity.
In the last four years, social media and internet culture have become somewhat unavoidable. The majority of U.S. adults have Instagram accounts, and around one third are TikTok users. From short-lived food trends to celebrity cancellations and even social justice movements, the nature of popular content on these platforms encourage users to become active participants in internet culture.
Unsurprisingly, both TikTok and Instagram reported significant increases in traffic during global COVID-19 shutdowns, with TikTok’s follower base increasing by 75% from January to September of 2020.
For many, the adjustment to social isolation was a difficult one. When March 2020 rolled around, in-person community building stopped. Public spaces like schools, bars and restaurants closed their doors, and any opportunities to see non-immediate family members came with serious health risks, which allowed digital spaces to take their place as a safer, more accessible alternative.
But unlike the majority of physical community spaces, online communities and forums more intensely center on shared interests. From sports to movies, politics, TV shows and music, interest based online communities flourished during periods of social isolation — and for some, these spaces did real good.
With nothing else to do but worry and wait for things to change for the better, many looked for comfort in the familiar.
Paul Booth, a professor of Media and Cinema Studies at DePaul University, finds that in times of great change, a return to a favorite piece of media “brings a sense of normality” to an “abnormal kind of situation, especially for those people that are socially isolated.”
In turn, participating in the associated “fandoms,” help “form a kind of community,” and one that is “often very tight knit.”
While the benefits of “fandom” culture during lockdown can’t be ignored, we shouldn’t forget about the real harm they can, and have caused in the years that followed. Even the unifying elements of “fandom” culture contribute to that harm.
Platforms like TikTok rely heavily on algorithms that analyze user content engagement attempting to “steer you toward more videos that will keep you scrolling.” When members of an online community decide to engage with content that positively represents their interest, the more likely they are to come across similar content in the future.
At first glance, this might not seem problematic, but the more time fans spend around opinions praising their favorite media or artists, the harder it becomes to accept dissenting opinions.
In turn, online fan communities essentially function as media-based “echo chambers” that leave little room for disagreement or discourse. Some members of fandoms go as far as crediting artists like Taylor Swift and groups like BTS for “saving their life.”
But this process does more than reinforce positive opinions about pop albums — it can lead to the development of one-sided parasocial relationships and participation in “morally motivated” harassment. When fans rely on media as a form of support and community, average conversations that call into question the quality of an artist's work have the possibility of registering as personal attacks.
The bottom line is that since the pandemic, fan culture has gone too far.
Virtual pop culture-based communities are important, but it’s time for “fandoms” to separate personal experiences and concepts of identity from the artists they love and the media they enjoy.
Blake Martin is a Senior studying english & political science. Do you agree that internet "fandom" culture has gone too far? Send all comments to opinion@dailycardinal.com
Blake Martin is the opinions editor for The Daily Cardinal.
