Why Aryan Khan dating Nora Fatehi interests Society?

(Don’t forget to check our Wordsmithery section at the last of the article)

Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan is in news every second day for one thing or the other. Recently, his picture with Nora Fatehi went viral & there were rumours that Jr SRK is dating the dancer/actress.

The intent of the article is not to be a sleuth and go for thorough investigation of relationship between the two. The idea is to explore as to why these types of news hit the good amount of space in news item. You put the tragedies and struggle of common masses the algorithm will disappoint you. The reason why media outlets such as The Wire, Newslaundry etc, found it difficult to make their ends meet.

Whereas celebrity gossip will skyrocket your views immaterial of how bad the report or output is. As Hindi quote goes “kadwa hai magar sach hai”.

The question is why society or the individual is more interested in celebrity news (or let’s call it gossip only) than the actual news happening around them. The gossip has 10x space for than human rights violation of any particular community. 

Is there any scientific or psychological reason we are interested in affairs of someone’s affair. 

As it turns out, there’s a science behind our infatuation with celebrity gossip – our brains are wired to be intrigued by it. But first, let’s define it: gossip involves relaxed, informal, and entertaining discussions about people who aren’t present in that moment. It comprises as much as 65% of our conversations, if not more. Some psychologists suggest that gossip is the “glue that binds social groups together” or a mechanism for connecting with one another, suggesting it might be an evolutionary adaptation. 

We're in a news environment where it's really hard to get people's attention. These stories about celebrities draw a lot of page views. They draw big audiences. They draw high viewership. That's also a really strong motivator to find a way to talk about these stories because you know they're going to pop with the audience. And we can't lose sight of the fact that that's the reason gossip is such a big business.

People are curious. They admire, idolise and sometimes even worship celebrities. They want to be privy to he star’s most personal facets of life. Life of a celebrity has long become a matter of public interest. How can it then be possible in this competitive world of digital media to draw the lines? If not for these exclusive scoops and juicy gossips, no publication will have an edge over the other, and they will be left becoming nothing more than PR machinery. 

There is also an interesting documentary by Al Jajeera on the life of paparazzi and celebrity hunters. Watch it here

Brut India also made similar interesting documentary on the same

Word Smitheries 

Sleuth - detective

Privy to - a person having a part or interest in any action, matter, or thing.

Gossip - informal talk about other people and their private lives

Skyrocket -  increase very steeply or rapidly.