[Red Moon]

CELEB WORSHIP IS 'HARMING FUTURES'

Britain's celebrity-obsessed culture is having a negative effect on young people by creating false idols, academics said today.

A new report from Leicester University researcher Dr Charlotte de Backer has found young people aspire to be a celebrity rather than contribute to society.

Dr de Backer said a desire to be famous for the sake of it was detrimental to young people's futures.

She said: "People used to look up to others from within their own communities but now it has changed and young people aspire to be like celebrities they see on the TV and in the newspapers.

"Role models used to be people with a certain talent who became famous as a by-product of that but in this age reality TV has made it seem easy to become a celebrity, even if you have nothing to offer to society.

"I do not feel that this is a very good evolution and it is not good to set these people up as role models for youngsters.

"Celebrities have replaced the important people from the communities that we live in who are the ones we should aspire to emulate."

In her study, Dr de Backer found young people admired Kylie, David Beckham, Angelina Jolie and Jade Goody.

She believes young people should look up to people such as Gandhi, Martin Luther King and John Lennon as examples of those who had achieved fame for their work to improve the world.

Councillor Vi Dempster, the city's children's services spokesman, said she was disappointed by the findings and that more needed to be done to educate young people about the lives and achievements of historical figures.

She said: "I do find it disappointing because these people are not known for anything particularly great and, in my opinion, where there are people like Churchill or Gandhi, we can all aspire to the qualities they had.

"We can't all be movie stars or footballers but we can all learn lessons of friendship, compassion and leadership from the great figures of the past."

Anisha Mistry, 16, from Evington, said: "Some teenagers do think that they can just go on Big Brother if they mess up at school, they see it as the easy way out.

"I think if someone is famous for doing nothing worthwhile then people should not follow what they say or they do."

Charlie Jones, 16, from Ibstock, said: "It really depends on the teenager themselves as to whether they choose to follow in these people's footsteps.

"There is a danger that some people will see what they have achieved and see it as an easy way to make a name for themselves."

Jaspreet Dhillon, 17, from Evington, said: "I do not follow people who are just famous for being famous but I can see how it could affect others.

"If someone is only famous for being on a reality TV show that is no reason for people to aspire to be like them."

Dr de Backer's findings have been published this week in the science journal Nature.

Source: This is Leicestershire