What You Might Not Know About Fame
What do you think of when you think of fame? Do you imagine wealth, big parties filled with celebrities, and charitable deeds? Or do you imagine mental health issues, mistrust, and isolation? It turns out both versions of fame are true.
With the rise of social media, it feels like everyone wants to be famous — and that they can be if they get enough views or clicks. From social media influencers to viral posts, many people are seeking fame without realizing the consequences.
With so many people trying to become famous, you might wonder: What is this fame thing all about? Who wants to become famous? Why do they want to become famous? And what happens when they do become famous?
What is Fame?
At its most simple, fame means more people know who you are than exist in your social circles of work, friends, family, and community. It doesn’t mean everyone in the world knows who you are. Nor does it mean everyone in your own country knows who you are.
You can be famous in one field, such as sports, television, or literature, and a virtual unknown out of it. You can be famous within one country, such as the United States, South Africa, or China, but anonymous once you leave that country.
Or you can be famous worldwide. In that case, the vast majority of the world with access to media seems to have heard your name or knows your face.
While fame is often associated with wealth, status, and power, it’s no guarantee you will have any of those things. You can be well-known and still be poor, powerless, and disrespected.
Who Wants to Become Famous?
When it comes to fame in the United States, not everyone wants it. And if you do want it, it’s more likely you’re younger rather than older.
According to a 2018 YouGov poll, only about 18% of Americans would like to go viral (i.e., the 21st-century version of being famous) versus 48% who would never like to go viral.
However, the results differed by age. Younger people were twice as likely to desire to go viral than the general population. In the youngest group surveyed (aged 18–24), 36% wanted to go viral.
How Many People Would “Like” Being Famous?
When it comes to being famous, many people imagine they would like it. In a 2016 YouGov, 1300 people in the United States were asked if they would “like” or “dislike” being very famous or slightly famous.
People seemed to be more in favor of fame when it was slight: 53% said they would like it, 36% would not like it, and 11% weren’t sure.
When it came to being very famous, the numbers dropped: 40% thought they would like it, while 49% thought they would dislike it (and 11% weren’t sure).
Why Do People Want To Be Famous?
Not everyone has the same motivation to become famous. In a 2013 study, “Fame and the Social Self” conducted by Greenwood, Long, and Cin, the researchers found three principal reasons why someone would desire fame.
1) To be seen or valued
2) To enjoy an elite, high-status lifestyle
3) To help others (through charity or good works)
What Happens When You Become Famous?
Apparently, fame involves a lot of changes, from how people treat you to new opportunities to mental health challenges.
One of the most cited studies about fame is a 2009 paper written by Rockwell and Giles, “Being a Celebrity: A Phenomenology of Fame. In the study, the researchers interviewed 15 famous people to get a better understanding of what fame is like and how it changes your life. They chose participants who were famous in different areas, such as government, business, sports, music, and film.
After reviewing their data, the researchers discovered that when you become famous, people treat you differently, you have more opportunities, your mental health suffers, and you need to learn to adapt to your life as a well-known person.
1) People Treat You Differently
When it comes to fame, researchers found celebrities were treated differently than regular people.
They found famous people suffered a loss of privacy (can’t go places without being recognized), went through a process of “entitization” (where they felt like a thing rather than a person), and had to learn to handle increased expectations (due to so many requests from so many people).
On the other hand, celebrities enjoyed the gratification of ego (people saying nice things) and symbolic immortality (the opportunity to give back or make a difference).
2) You Have More Opportunities
Researchers found that being famous allows you to have more opportunities than you would if you were unknown: some good and some bad. On the one hand, fame can lead to wealth and access to the elite. But, on the other hand, the newfound attention also leads to more temptations (such as drugs, sex, etc.) and impacts on family (such as worries about safety, mental health, and privacy).
3) Your Mental Health Can Suffer
Finally, fame can affect your mental health. Some of these mental health effects the researchers discovered were the need for character-splitting (or a celebrity dividing their self into two identities: a public self and a private self), mistrust (of people and their motives), isolation (such as shutting out people to avoid all the downsides of fame), and an unwillingness to give up fame.
4) You Need to Adapt to Fame
In order to handle being well-known, the researchers learned celebrities went through four different stages as they adapted to their fame: Love/Hate, Addiction, Acceptance, and Adaptation.
- Love/Hate: When celebrities first become famous, they enjoy a love/hate relationship with fame. They enjoy the good parts (such as admiration, wealth, and status) but hate the negative parts (such as loss of privacy and negative attention).
- Addiction: At some point, many celebrities might find fame to be addictive. The researchers found celebrities reported feeling a high from all the recognition and found it difficult to imagine living without it.
- Acceptance: Then, after living with fame for a time, researchers found many celebrities came to accept the new way of life. They came to see fame as subjective and ephemeral.
- Adaptation: Finally, most celebrities adapt to their new way of life. They made changes to how they lived and their behavior and understood being recognized will be part of their life from now on.
In the United States, fame and celebrity are desired by a large number of people, especially younger people. People want to become famous for the positive aspects of being valued, enjoying wealth, and having the ability to do good for others.
However, not as many people are aware of the powerful trade-offs for being well-known. Celebrities have to contend with a loss of privacy, “entitization,” mistrust of people, temptations, impacts on family, and isolation from their community. In order to adjust to this change, celebrities go through a process of accommodation until they finally adjust to their new way of life.
One wonders if people understood the entirety of fame (both good and bad), would as many people desire or seek to be famous?
Kyle Crocco is a writer, musician, sizzle reeleditor, and the author of Heroes, Inc. and Heroes Wanted.
