Why Celebrities Are Bad Role Models

When you’re looking up to someone, it’s easy to develop an unhealthy dependence on that person that can negatively impact your life, especially if that person isn’t someone you should be looking up to. Celebrities are great at being entertaining, but they aren’t necessarily great at providing the kind of role models you need in your life. Here are five reasons why celebrities are bad role models and why you shouldn’t look up to them too much.

Celebrities Aren’t Good Role Models

According to one study, nearly 70% of young people say that famous actors or actresses make good or excellent role models. But research suggests we should be warier of our desire to emulate these public figures.

For example, a recent survey of 2,000 high school students found that most had an unrealistic view of celebrity lifestyles and tended to have negative opinions about them. Celebrities can make us feel good about ourselves—but they aren’t usually aware of how they influence others.

Like it or not, people tend to aspire toward people like themselves—and what better measure is there than one’s wealth? The truth is that many celebrities never intended to be admired as role models; but even then, should we be looking up to these individuals.

Reasons Why Celebrities Don’t Make Good Role Models

There are a lot of reasons why people look up to and idolize celebrities, which is why it’s all too easy for them to get caught up in living vicariously through these famous individuals. The problem is that most people don’t see that celebrities aren’t exactly what they seem like on television or social media. Here are some reasons why we shouldn’t look up to celebrities as good role models:

1.   Celebrities Are Rarely Honest

Even though we respect and admire many of our favorite celebs, it’s important to remember that they’re still people with normal flaws.  Actors and singers often play a different characters in each film or song.

Those aren’t their true selves, yet many teens look up to them as role models. Unfortunately, most celebrities strive for perfection; therefore, in real life, they don’t seem as authentic or down-to-earth as you might think. If anything, their fame encourages people (especially teens) to lie about who they are for fear of rejection or ridicule.

Honesty should be a virtue for a good role model that you can trust. Celebrities aren’t always honest so neither should we base our lives on theirs.

2.   Celebrities Have Intense Pressure to Always Look Perfect

With their photo taken from every angle, wearing various outfits and under different lighting conditions, it is almost impossible for a celebrity to look flawless. How can we expect to compare with them? It is far easier to be inspired by people who appear real, i.e., normal citizens, than mega-stars.  Celebrities may seem like ideal candidates for becoming role models but young people mustn’t put pressure on themselves to conform to standards set by others but develop internal standards instead.

Celebrities may seem like ideal candidates for becoming role models but young people mustn’t put pressure on themselves to conform to standards set by others but develop internal standards instead.

3.   Celebrities Have No Privacy

Everyone knows everything about them. Living a private life is virtually impossible for celebrities, even when they try to do it, everyone tries to figure out what they’re up to. They have people following them all day, trying to pick up on their every move. A good role model should be someone who can live a normal, quiet, and safe life away from all of that attention.

With celebrity culture so deeply ingrained in society today, we need to stop looking at these celebs as heroes and start looking at them as entertainers. They were just born lucky enough to be able to sing or act or dance better than others, but they didn’t necessarily put any more work into those talents than you did at your job today.

4.   Celebrities Can Be Arrogant

Just because you’re rich and famous doesn’t mean you have all of life figured out. Celebrities often have inflated egos that leave them with a sense of feeling superior to everyone else.

The only problem is that these people aren’t special or different from everyone else—they’re just performers. And while some celebrities can give good advice, there’s no guarantee they always speak honestly. They might tell us what we want to hear so they stay in our good graces. As well-intentioned as their words may be, it’s important not to simply idolize someone because he or she has money or fame.

5.   Celebrities Can Seem Needy or Desperate

They post pictures of themselves with their latest purchase or tell you how hard they work out. It may seem counterintuitive, but when you know very little about someone, their tendency to broadcast what’s going on in their lives is a good thing. You get a peek into how they live and interact, which gives your insight into who they are as people.

Celebrities can seem needy or desperate to maintain fame. In a real sense, they lack authenticity, individuality because there is always somebody controlling them either from outside or from inside. Therefore, they don’t have to prove anything. And if they do then, it will be for show only and that might even harm them more than help them.

6.   Their Life Isn’t Perfect

Just because someone is famous doesn’t mean that they’ve always had a perfect life. One may think that once you become famous, life gets easier, but let me tell you that isn’t always true! Celebrities lead normal lives before they achieve success, so there was a period where life was tough on them as well—and sometimes you can trace how their life got better upon their rise to stardom.

We often forget that although stars have millions of fans who adore everything about them, celebs are also human beings with strengths and weaknesses just like anyone else. They face obstacles at work and in their personal lives; they are prone to making mistakes just like any other person; they sometimes lie when things go wrong; they sometimes even cheat on their significant others. These things happen regardless of fame because stars are still only human.

7.   Celebrities Promote Materialism and Selfishness.

 We often make heroes out of our favorite movie stars, singers, and other high-profile celebrities—and while we may try to deny it, many times those celebs become more than just public figures that we admire from afar; they become icons who serve as ideal examples by which we measure ourselves.

As admirable as fame and success can be, though, there’s a fine line between looking up to someone as an example for success and copying everything about their lifestyle because you think that particular person has everything figured out.

Conclusion

Celebrities aren’t good role models. They tend to glamorize things like drinking and partying. Not only do they glorify unhealthy habits, but they also often contradict themselves by saying one thing, and doing another.

Some might say that all of these things don’t necessarily make them terrible people, but when you take into account their actions and how many young people admire them, it does start to become concerning.