We sometimes hear that we live in an age of obsession with celebrity, but the truth is people have been interested in the lives of prominent people for as long as there have been people who were prominent. Even in the Middle Ages, gossip about the activities of the nobility and their court was of widespread interest. However, our modern age has made it easier to enjoy celebrity watching and here's why:
Better Technology
For most of history, following celebrities was mostly a verbal activity in which people in a position to know would share their celebrity news by word of mouth. Now, many more mediums exist for covering celebrities such as newspapers, magazines and video. No longer is celebrity news limited to a grapevine of insiders, today everyone can be a regular consumer of celebrity news through a wide variety of news outlets.
Better Distribution
Once a news outlet has provided something newsworthy about a celebrity, the means now exists for spreading that news faster and further than ever before. The main engine of this news distribution is social media, which allows people to post a celebrity based story before all their social media contacts. The result is a celebrity news echo chamber that brings celebrity news directly to people