As always, I am going to be annoying here and point out that for some creators (not Casey, who is really ethical) their calling out of "parasocial relationships" is an attempt to deny their own culpability in those relationships and put it all on the audience members. https://twitter.com/CaseyExplosion/status/1352666130142392329

We've known about parasocial relationships since the 50s. We know how best to create them as well- do a show where you talk directly to a camera, making it seem like you are 1:1 talking to the person on the other side of the camera, while sitting on a couch or space that is coded

as friendly, intimate, or casual. Homey, if you will.
Make videos where you are hanging out with friends, with the camera unobtrusively looking on.
Share personal information, talk about yourself.
Hey- does that sound like tons of videos you've watched? No kidding!?

And do people at the end of those videos ask you to support them- sometimes making very personal appeals- and specifically ask you to come support them on Patreon, where the reward for doing so is generally more access to the creator? Wild!

And look, this part is NOT a criticism, because generally speaking- parasocial relationships aren't bad.
The results are in, and psychologists tend to agree that parasocial relationships can be perfectly healthy for anyone who has the capacity to separate reality and fantasy.

The people who have the most to lose are also the ones who gain the most- the one who everyone is having a parasocial relationship with.
They are the ones receiving financial benefits from Patreon donors, bigger sub counts, and all that. They are the ones whose comment sections

are full of "uwu you're the best, I love watching you, you taught me so much and are so smart and the reason I got out of X bad place" and those feel SO good.
The flip side is that if you disappoint a person who has developed this bond with you, shit is gonna get salty.

And I thought Casey's thread was really good, and kept things positive, non-blaming, was really just about having healthy boundaries for everyone.
And that is good, and something people should probably talk about with their audiences more.