The Downside of Being Popular

Be it during the medieval times through kings who raided and ruled over kingdoms to attain rule and popularity from the people in those kingdoms, or during this modern era, through followers, subscribers and even fans, for idols and celebrities, popularity is one of the lesser talked attainments of people today. So, is it really a blessing or not?

Popularity has various advantages and disadvantages, which through it determines if it becomes a blessing (good thing to an individual) or a curse (potential bad thing to an individual). Some of these advantages of popularity include:

Popularity leads to stronger social connections and helps to reduce loneliness. Popular well-liked people have a large network of friends and supporters who they can depend on to provide them with a sense of belonging and companionship which helps reduce loneliness in their lives.

Popularity also leads to greater opportunities since through being liked and respected, popular individuals can gain access to great opportunities such as employment offers, access to social events through exclusive party invitations and leadership roles and positions, which may lead to faster career development since many popular people today such as popular Tiktokers and celebrities are seen as a social capital due to their friends and supporters.

However, this popularity has a lot of negative aspects, which are usually not talked more about, since most people seem to see the positive aspects, such as getting special privileges that an ordinary person would not get access to, and the affection popular people get based on their talents and usually good looks.

Some of these negative aspects or downsides include: Popular people especially celebrities such as globally known singers, famous actors, popular influencers and streamers over time usually have little to no privacy in their lives. This occurs since although a lot of people are attracted to the popular people, within these people include bad people such as stalkers, fake friends and obsessed people, who in most cases reveal sensitive information of popular people, which over time results to these popular people having little or no privacy in their day to day lives.

Many popular people also suffer from high expectations from their supporters, such as fans of popular singers and musicians. In many cases in life today, people supporting famous or popular people usually place the popular person in a stereotype which has its own rules and expectations, which usually lead to stress and mental breakdown of the popular people who fear to lose their fans. 

An example of this can be seen through popular actors who are stereotyped based on the role they played, that is, actors who act well as villains are sometimes depicted to be villainous in real life.

Most popular people also face fake and superficial relationships. This occurs since over time, this type of friendship between popular and unpopular people, can turn into a transactional one whereby the unpopular friend relies excessively on the popular friend, who in most cases, has to endure it  to prevent the friendship from collapsing, and over time, this may lead to loneliness of the popular person since although he or she may have a lot of friends and connections, they may have few people who they may actually rely on.

Another negative issue that most popular people face may be blackmailing. This may be financial, emotional, physical or at times even sexual blackmail. This may arise from friends of these popular people, their managers, or even through online users who may gather sensitive information on the popular individual, and threaten them to gain what they want. This occurs usually when the famous people who are on their ‘highest’ are threatened with information that may ruin their popularity and career and in many cases this blackmailing which should be stopped, usually works since they do not want their lives horribly ruined.

Popular people also face discrimination, if they do anything morally unacceptable even if they are speaking their own opinions, which when compared to an unpopular person, the same opinions would be seen as acceptable. For example, if an unpopular person were to accidentally hit a person, this action may be seen as easily forgivable, but if the same action were to be done by a popular person, it may lead to scandals and discrimination even from the same people who initially supported them.

Lastly, popularity may lead to identity crisis mainly of the popular people since many of the popular people usually adopt an identity to please their fans and supporters. For example, a narcissistic person may adopt a good personality such a charming and hardworking person, in order to gain more followers and supporters on social media platforms. Over time, this may lead to an identity crisis since the popular person may confuse their true self (as narcissistic) with their acting persona (as a charming person) which may lead to mental health issues such as personality disorders, if not dealt with accordingly. 

Fame and popularity have benefits such as special privileges and opportunities and large friend networks. However, it has its disadvantages such as discrimination, mental health issues and even blackmailing, therefore, one should consider both its negative and positive aspects when thinking of attaining popularity.