Everyone has heard about the latest news about our favorite celebrities, right? From Rihanna being pregnant with A$AP Rocky’s baby to the engagement of Megan Fox and Machine Gun Kelly (MGK)—but why does we feel guilty to admit that people keep up with the recent addition to the mass “celebrity culture”.

A guilty pleasure is an activity or piece of media that a person enjoys but would be embarrassed if another person found out. Additionally, the definition of celebrity culture is the high exposure to celebrities’ personal lives on a global scale.

To me, it is funny how people around the world know so much about a celebrity, but they know nothing about their audience: the average person. When I was younger, I was exposed to an unhealthy amount of gossip and tabloid magazines. This was back when people weren’t able to Google a celebrity’s name to get the latest on their favorite celebrity. During my earlier exposures, there would be titles like “Katy Perry seen with Orlando Bloom on July 4th!”, which is very captivating to a 9-year old me checking out from my local VONS with three bags of Nacho Cheese Doritos. Events like this led to my guilty pleasure of “Keeping Up With the Celebrities”, which includes reality TV and scrolling through different social media platforms for my news.

One of the most infamous social media platforms for news is “the stupid bird app”, also known as Twitter. Now, Twitter, as a platform, is very toxic, to say the least. With debates on the most minute concerns and straight-up fan wars between two bands, where else would celebrity culture be exposed? Although I am not an avid user of Twitter, I do check up on it from time to time before closing it from the stupidity of its users: from “celebrity culture is toxic” to “Nate Jacobs from Euphoria is sooo hot!!!”

Within the debate over celebrity culture, there are two sides: the one who is against all forms of it and those who heavily endorse them.

But, this just seems pointless because there’s nothing to win—it just shows people still invest no matter what. Celebrity culture is actually pretty unique to heavily developed countries like the United States and South Korea. Now, South Korean celebrity culture is more intense than just some arguments on Twitter, but that is a different story for a different day.

Overall, whether or not you want to admit your contribution to the growth and development of celebrity culture, sharing posts and opinions on the latest celebrity news is still an act of active participation in it. So, there is nothing to feel guilty about since everyone does it! And I mean it, just ask your family and friends!