Now ten years old, Betsy, Tacy, and Tib develop a crush on King Alphonso, the teenage King of Spain. This is their first crush as individuals, let alone collectively, so they are not quite sure how to think about it or handle it. But they decide that they must do something about it, together. So they write and send him a letter (with Mrs. Ekstrom’s help), proclaiming their love and suggesting Tib as a suitable future queen, for she owns a white accordion-pleated dress.

In the digital age, it is not uncommon for ten-year-old young girls to create social media accounts and use them to communicate with the outside world. According to the Atlantic Health System, in 2024, 40% of ten-year-olds had their own smartphone, and nearly one in five children between the ages of 9 and 12 used social media every day. Many follow and “like” the posts of celebrities. A modern teenage monarch would very likely have an active social media presence via which a young fan could express admiration, and the young king or queen could conceiveably send a response!

Happily, Betsy, Tacy, and Tib receive a response to their letter, too! It seemed to come from the king’s secretary, said Betsy’s mother, who read aloud the short note thanking the girls for their letter and sentiments. Still, it was wildly thrilling — just as it might be today to receive a “like” or a comment on a social media post sent to a well-known actor, singer, or star.

While sometimes (and incorrectly) dismissed as “only parasocial” and therefore not real, messages exchanged between fans and celebrities can absolutely have real meaning for all involved. They enable the sharing of visibility, affection, and emotionality, often across great physical and social distances. They are real and consequential, and so might more accurately be termed “sociomental,” for they are enable a unique form of sociality that exists in a shared cognitive space. And they most certainly can result in genuine feelings of connectedness, just as we saw in the earliest days of the 20th century, when a trio of young girls reached out to someone who lived a completely different life halfway across the world, and received attention and affirmation in return.

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On children’s smartphone use, see: https://ahs.atlantichealth.org/about-us/stay-connected/news/content-central/2024/10-facts-about-kids-and-teens-on-social-media.html#:~:text=By%20age%2010%2C%20approximately%2040,years%20old%20to%20use%20them.

On parasocial/sociomental relationships, see: Mary Chayko. 2021. Superconnected: The Internet, Digital Media, and Techno-Social Life (3rd Edition, SAGE Publications) https://collegepublishing.sagepub.com/products/superconnected-the-internet-digital-media-and-techno-social-life-3-259314

and

Mary Chayko. 2002. Connecting: How We Form Social Bonds and Communities in the Internet Age (SUNY Press). https://sunypress.edu/Books/C/Connecting