Just in! On the front cover of People magazine your favorite celebrity just got married…then divorced? On almost every magazine you look at there is a celebrity on the cover. Whether it be a major scandal or a new baby, we can’t help but be curious about what’s happening in our favorite celebrity’s lives. And these celebrity crushes are not uncommon, but they can contribute to a major problem — low self-perception.

The main reason we have celebrity crushes is because we perceive them as god-like. The article “Stop Putting Others on a Pedestal,” explains, “When we put celebrities on a pedestal it tends to be because they have a lot of money or fame. We have become conditioned to believe that we need money in order to be happy…seeing these celebrities appear to be happy because of [their] money makes us view them as above us.” The satisfaction we get from seeing celebrities happy keeps us from being content with our own lives.

Social media is the main platform that raises celebrities status above our own. According to the Spectator’s “Let’s Stop Putting Celebrities on a Pedestal,” social media takes away all the celebrity’s flaws, leaving a god-like facade of perfection. Apps like Instagram and Snapchat only show the perfect and exciting lives of celebrities, but never the bad, such as makeup-free pictures on vacation or running errands.

We also do this. To satisfy that we all have the “perfect life” we only post our best most perfect pictures. With this, putting people on pedestals is not only unhealthy, but causes total chaos when that “perfect” person does something to destroy their image.

Once we allow celebrities to become our image of perfection, it affects how we perceive ourselves and others. The Bustle article “How Your Celebrity Crush Affects Your Self-Perception” claims, “interactions with celebrities are so much easier…If people feel like they can easily communicate with celebrities, they start to feel like a celebrity is truly invested in them.” When someone feels like they are personally connected to a celebrity, it can lead to obsessive tendencies, like stalking. In 2009, for example, singer Miley Cyrus had a stalker who claimed to be her husband. He repeatedly tried to contact her on social media and even tried to break into her house. This shows how one’s self perception can be misguided when we become obsessed with a celebrity.

Whether it’s us or someone famous, we can get stress and depression from trying to maintain a perfect image. Your self perception and overall self-worth can be damaged from focusing on how your favorite celebrity looks and acts. Remember, next time you think of how perfect your favorite celebrity looks, they are just like you.