Fandom as a Psychological Shelter: When Idol Worship Becomes an Escape from Existential Anxiety

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-509-6_11How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Fandom Culture; Idol Worship; Existential Anxiety; Social Media; Identity Construction

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to look at how being a fan and idolizing celebrities helps young people cope with feelings of anxiety and uncertainty about their personal identity. The paper analyses how social media helps fans build bonds and recognize unity among each other. Engaging with these fandoms gives fans a way to handle stress, lead community rituals and control their feelings, making them feel welcome. However, the paper emphasizes some dangers, including escapism, becoming dependent, following social groups and money-making exploitation. Although being part of a fandom can lower people’s doubts, it might also hold back one own development and keep you from truly connecting with others. Understanding how youth are influenced by both sides of life is very important for mental health professionals working with youth.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Zhou Can
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/12/15
TI  - Fandom as a Psychological Shelter: When Idol Worship Becomes an Escape from Existential Anxiety
BT  - Proceedings of the 2025 International Conference on Mental Growth and Human Resilience (MGHR 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 110
EP  - 118
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-509-6_11
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-509-6_11
ID  - Can2025
ER  -