‘Fame Junkies’ is hooked on celebrity behavior – USATODAY.com
Author Jake Halpern argues that some people, particularly young girls, are literally addicted to celeb trivia. (This could explain why Paris Hilton was the most Googled name in 2006.) “We become addicted to things that have a mood-altering effect — drinking, pornography, chocolate,” says the 31-year-old freelance journalist and NPR commentator. The pictured example is of a life-size statue of Britney Spears giving birth on a bear skin rug, pointed out by Caroline Collier.
The results from a survey Halpern conducted of 653 middle-school students in the Rochester, N.Y., area:
•Given a choice of becoming the CEO of a major corporation, the president of Yale or Harvard, a Navy SEAL, a U.S. senator or “the personal assistant to a very famous singer or movie star,” almost half of the girls — 43.4% — chose the assistant role.
•When given an option to become stronger, smarter, famous or beautiful, boys in the survey chose fame almost as often as intelligence, and girls chose it more often.
•The teens who regularly watch certain celebrity-oriented TV shows were more likely than others to believe that they themselves will be famous someday.