When did our society became so superficial? Why is it more occupied with following celebs' personal lives than their careers? It's not about their movies/songs/music videos anymore, it's all about their outrageous dresses, their statements, their interviews.

When did we lost our focus on what celebrities do and started focusing more on their personal lives? I might be 'old-school', but I'm not like most modern fans. I don't care who they sleep with, I don't care about their political views, all I care about is their songs/movies. I like the Internet, but it increases that effect. It's like people care more about if Britney is wearing a bra instead of focusing on her music career (not that she's a good singer lol).

Not me... I love to find out who's sleeping with who and so on.

Celebrities' personal lives overshadowing their careers is nothing new.  Been going on for centuries, even back as far as Cleopatra and Marc Antony.

Up to the present day when we have J-Lo and Marc Anthony.  ;D

I love entry-level positions (c-listers, indy artists, voice actors, and more local personalities) since they have smaller fanbases and tend to be more down to earth than those what you read in the main media.

With regards to the question, technology has definitely played a role. It used to be that you could just send fanmail (and still can) to a celebrity and with luck you might get an autograph. However, you'd have to dig hard in stacks of media just to see their personal lives, and would need to wait until a bio/autobio was published to get a good luck, and that was usually well after they had established themselves, not when they were fresh. This has also contributed to a decline in the quality of their art as well.