Said the Gramophone - image by Neale McDavitt-van Fleet

: Influencers and streamers often perform authenticity by sharing personal struggles, which reinforces the viewer's belief that they "really know" the person behind the screen.

"Sorry," Leo stammered, sweat beading on his forehead. "Static... static electricity."

But something strange has happened over the last ten years. "Just friends" has stopped being merely a social status. It has become a —an invasive, self-replicating narrative engine that has latched onto entertainment content and popular media, draining originality from scripts, warping audience expectations, and regurgitating the same tired conflicts across film, television, music, and even TikTok micro-narratives.