Expert opinion by Oleksandra Hryshko, Deputy Director for Educational Work at Architecture and Engineering Collegium A+ (AEC+), CELTA teacher (Pass A), Coordinator of Cambridge Programme and The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award at Educational Holding A+
Cambridge Dictionary has chosen parasocial as the word of 2025. This reflects a new way in which people establish emotional connections in the digital environment, where interaction with technology becomes as significant as contact with people.
The peak of interest in the word occurred on June 30, 2025, when popular YouTube streamer IShowSpeed blocked a fan who called herself his “parasocial #1.” After this, users began massively searching for the meaning of the term. Cambridge Dictionary promptly added it to the dictionary, capturing a phenomenon of digital reality.
Meaning of the Term “Parasocial”
Parasocial relationships are a one-sided feeling of closeness to someone a person has never met in person. Previously, this happened between viewers and actors, TV hosts, bloggers, musicians.
Today it includes:
- virtual influencers
- video game characters
- avatars
- educational platforms
- voice and text AI assistants
In the digital age, technology has become part of our social reality, and language quickly reflects these changes.
“The 2025 word of the year highlights one of the key trends of our time, namely the search for emotional presence in a rapidly digitalizing world,” explains Oleksandra Hryshko.
Linguistic Changes in the Age of AI
The emergence of “parasocial” in the Cambridge Dictionary is part of a broader picture of linguistic transformations.
“Language performs a key function — it ensures communication through vocabulary and rules for combining them into sentences and texts. That’s why it is the first to react to large-scale societal changes that initially seem organic and imperceptible. Neologisms are a sensitive indicator of such transformations,” adds the expert.
She reminds us that similar leaps have already occurred during the scientific and technical revolution of the 16th-17th centuries, during periods of wars and global changes.
The new surge of 2023-2025 is associated with terms describing the role of artificial intelligence:
- prompt engineering — a new profession
- GenAI — the name for generative models
- hallucinate — a term with expanded meaning: “to generate distorted or false information”
Therefore, the emergence of parasocial is a logical next step in linguistic evolution.
“The newest word added to the Cambridge Dictionary, the world’s most authoritative lexicographic publication, was ‘parasocial’ — describing close relationships that someone may experience with a stranger, and now with artificial intelligence.”
Why Did the Term “Parasocial” Become the Word of 2025?
1. People Build Relationships with Technology
AI is no longer perceived as a tool, it has a voice, character, communication style. This creates an illusion of reciprocity.
2. Digital Celebrities Have Become Influential Social Figures
Influencers and streamers form communities where emotional engagement is central.
3. Society Seeks New Forms of Support
Parasocial relationships help process emotions in a rapidly changing world.
Parasocial & Education: What It Means for Educational Holding A+
Within the framework of the Cambridge International Programme (Primary, Lower Secondary, IGCSE, A-level), students’ digital emotional experience becomes critically important.
“Students today form attachments not only to teachers or classmates, but also to platforms, educational apps, and AI mentors. This is a new layer of school experience that needs to be taken into account,” emphasizes Oleksandra Hryshko.
In the schools of Educational Holding A+, this means:
- systematic development of digital literacy
- explaining the difference between algorithms and real interaction
- supporting healthy digital habits
- attention to emotional safety
Trending Search Queries of 2025
- parasocial meaning
- what is parasocial
- Cambridge Dictionary word of the year 2025
- parasocial relationships with AI
- neologisms 2025
- AI and linguistic changes
- Cambridge International Programme A+
- international school Kyiv Cambridge
These queries form a trend toward understanding how AI is changing language, education, culture, and emotional interaction.
What Does This Mean for Us Today?
Parasocial is a word about a new emotional reality.
- We seek a voice that responds.
- We value presence, even if it’s digital.
- We strive for humanity in technology.
Language, as always, is the first to capture what society is experiencing.
