I’ve been thinking about the movies lately—I’ve always been a sucker for a good flick—and it occurs to me that films have both formed and deformed us in a variety of ways. The cinema has, of course, held up a funhouse mirror of reality to our nation since those early silent images flickered across screens over a century ago. These delighted a nation that was mostly rural and cockily aggressive after riding to the rescue of our European allies during the First World War. The “talkies” that followed provided many decades of pleasantly mindless entertainment—with an occasional dose of moral uplift to instruct us and bring tears to our eyes.

Unsurprisingly, the movie stars glowed brightly in the eyes of audiences and formed a unique and unbreakable bond with people who saw these strangers as central players in their own largely anonymous lives. Television has, of course, provided more fodder for fans, and our century has heralded a transition from a dull and slow-footed analog world to a streaming digital landscape that permits instant and unceasing gratification of our nation’s many celebrity obsessions. This has been much like a switch from hard cider to methamphetamine for the unhappy and the unhinged, who bizarrely believe they can heal themselves by basking in the reflected glow of a movie or television screen.

The celebrities (and the many, many celebrity wannabes now clogging our online lives) are style icons, surrogate best friends, aspirational role models, substitute spouses, and the objects of billions of yearning fantasies. Moreover, as the opacity that once concealed celebrity peccadilloes and foibles from a markedly more innocent America of a century ago has morphed into today’s tell-all and reveal-all new normal of the rude, lewd, and nude blasting through the many forms of media that now assault us on a daily basis, the beneficial barrier that once existed between personal reality and the celebrity alternative universe has mutated into a damaging fantasy of actual intimacy for many sad and lonely Americans.

This has not, as we know, been an entirely healthful outcome for either individuals or our society as a whole.

First of all, it must be acknowledged that top-tier celebrities—whether their fame derives from the worlds of movies, television, music, sports, or any other entertainment endeavor—do not live in the same reality as the vast majority of our nation’s citizens, so their understanding of the daily lives and challenges facing 99.9% of Americans might be seriously deficient. After all, most of us do not go through our lives with teams of assistants, public relations specialists, nannies, agents, accountants, maids, and others who are devoted to our security and comfort—although this must be a quite nice way to live. In addition, few of us can cut deals for free clothing, jewelry, luxury travel, and expensive automobiles in exchange for an agreement to simply be seen using them. Although many of us maintain an online presence of some sort, one that might begin and end with sharing photos of our garage renovation, few of us can earn upwards of $1 million per social media post just by flashing some flesh.

Celebrities are insulated from any of the harsh realities of life that go beyond a bad red carpet dress or a handler purchasing the wrong brand of bottled water, so expecting them to offer useful insights into parenting, politics, or policy is a little like asking Elon Musk for advice on your household budget. However, this stops few from wasting their time and money on the pronouncements and products of people whose only credentials are the ability to throw or kick a ball, gyrate seductively while lip-synching to a song on stage, or convincingly fake emotions on camera. While recognizing that almost any advice might contain some small seed of truth, it seems bizarre to cherish the opinions of individuals who are primarily concerned with promoting themselves and collecting our hard-earned cash by whatever means possible.

So why do so many care so desperately what the fatuous and famous few think?

Our overwhelmingly intrusive and omnipresent celebrity culture is, in the final analysis, probably a pitiable symptom of our overall loss of faith, whether it be in our leaders, our experts, our God, our families, or one another. Now desperate for direction, a fake taste of the divine—and somewhere to park their battered trust—many Americans now choose to slavishly conform to the beliefs and lifestyles of Hollywood stars and musicians who, when one scratches beneath the surface, many times turn out to be obliviously crazy, drug addicts, total narcissists—or all of the above.

The pressures of our daily lives and today’s sad uptick of mental health problems likely also contribute to our tendency to believe entertainers are worthy of our worship, which does little for one’s own happiness but boosts the bottom line of our money-grubbing celebrity class. Empty people living difficult and unsatisfying lives will always gravitate to the shiny surface of the lives of the rich and famous because they desperately want to be at the center of a universe that has seemingly forgotten they even exist. The mentally unwell—the psychopaths, sociopaths, schizophrenics, and the like—also find this unreal and self-centered lifestyle attractive because it makes them the stars of their own delusional or disconnected worlds.

Movies, television, music, and sports can be loads of fun, but they are just entertainment—period. They are not a substitute for a life well lived, and these performers are not your best friends. Instead of scrolling for tidbits of celebrity gossip or buying the shoes your favorite star wore at a movie premiere, it would be much better to improve yourself, chase your own dreams, and own your successes and failures while learning from the life lessons these provide. Do not offload your mind and heart to someone who is flippantly and frivolously famous.

It’s all a big show, folks. Remember this always—and be happy.