Fandoms. In this day and age with the internet and social media, it is easier than ever to find friends online with similar interests. Fandoms have basically made themselves into their own sub-culture. People have created fandoms for One Direction, Star Wars, Harry Potter, 5 Seconds of Summer, Marvel, Hamilton, Hunger Games, or any YouTuber. The list could go on and on with every fandom online, but the question often arises: how does one get so deep into a fandom where they have officially become obsessed? Well, since I have been through many fandoms in my day, I have seen five steps that most people go through when becoming an obsessive fan girl (or boy).

1. You get introduced to the thing whether it be through Twitter, YouTube, Tumblr, a friend, spotify, etc.
2. You start to get more interested in them so you buy their music on iTunes and adding all of their music on spotify, or reading their books if this is some sort of book fandom. For a YouTuber, this might include watching all of their videos. At this stage, you are still free to escape from becoming a complete fan girl, so if you are not ready for this lifestyle, leave now and never look back.
3. If you decide to stay in this fandom, then you will probably start getting interested in who you are following as people. This can occur from watching something along the lines of “5SOS Funniest Moments” or something similar to that. No matter how it occurs, you will see yourself getting completely invested in their personalities, even if these “people” are just characters in a book. This could also be called the “meme” phase where you start to look at a lot of their memes that only people in the fandom might find funny.
4. At this point, you’ll probably want to know every single detail about them, this can be achieved by endless google searches, following them on all types of social media, and following fan accounts on Tumblr just to look at cute edits of them. This might only apply to you if you obsess with some sort of person like One Direction. With books or movies, you will find yourself seeing these characters as real people, or acting like you know them even though they’re not real. Although, the following of fan accounts with cute Tumblr edits applies to all types of fandoms.
5. By this stage, you will have probably fallen off of the deep end with how much you are obsessed with them. At this stage you might start following update accounts, or even making fan accounts of your own to keep track of all things they might be doing. They can do no wrong in your eyes at this point. This can happen with musicians, or even actors who play your favorite character in a movie.

After all of these stages have been complete, your peak will hit. Now all you have to do is quietly relax as you slowly decline in your obsession. Usually, as your obsession goes down, their fame goes down, the fandom calms down, and slowly all of the hype and glory will fade away, like how all good things must come to an end.

Until you are introduced to something else, and the cycle starts all over again.