A week into 2012 and the world have been presented with, what is probably the most famous foetus in the world. Beyonce Knowles-Carter has finally given birth to the world’s most talented baby, Blue Ivy Carter. The world’s media went into frenzy. Not more so than the blogosphere. The Internet has become the new calling post for breaking news. It broke the death of Michael Jackson and Amy Winehouse, announced Russell Brand & Katy Perry’s divorce and showcased Pippa Middleton’s bum. But when did we become so celebrity obsessed?

Let’s take Beyonce’s baby for example. For years, her and Jay-Z’s relationship has been under the watchful eye of the public. After years of false engagements and weddings, the pair finally tied the knot in 2008. Usually shy to discuss their relationship, B started referring to Jay-Z as “my husband”. Fast forward to 2011, and rumours of a pregnancy begin swirling, and at the MTV Video Music Awards, Beyonce appears rubbing her stomach on the red carpet.

Then… BELLYGATE! That footage of Beyonce’s “collapsing” bump in Australia as she took a seat (Ironic, as I’ve been saying Beyonce needs to take a seat for years!) for an interview. Is it a fake? Is she wearing a prosthetic bump? A surrogate? Alien baby? Even one of Beyonce’s “cousins” is claiming that the whole pregnancy is a fake!

Back to the present day, and within hours of birth, “IvyBlueCarter” appears on Twitter. Gaining around 1000 followers an hour, B & J’s baby sent us live updates from the hospital. Unfortunately, the account has now been suspended, but we were “blessed” with tweets such as:

“I have to get some rest before i go in the studio and work on my new album”

“Allow me to reintroduce myself”

“When my mom’s stomach collapsed, I was just layin back in the Maybach”

The fact that someone rushed to Twitter to take the name first, and begin tweeting from it is laughable and slightly disturbing. I suppose what’s even funnier, is that the name was wrong! Some of Beyonce’s mega fans (stans) were even using the “check-in” service on Foursquare and Facebook at the Lenox Hill Hospital where Beyonce gave birth. Why? To feel closer to her… Right?

Even last week, I came across the headline “Cheryl Cole unfollows Lily Allen on Twitter”. Really? That’s headline news? The world is in economic turmoil and the world stops when Cheryl Cole stops following another artist? Excuse me, while I go bang my head against a wall.

I think we (the media) are to blame for a lot of this. In the case of Beyonce’s baby, every website, magazine, blogger, writer, Twitter-er wanted to be that person to brake the news and, I suppose, we’ve allowed this celebrity-obsessed to happen. Just look at “Celebrity” Big Brother. Hundreds of people are glued to Channel 5 to watch a group of celebrity flops live together and conduct even more demeaning tasks (I think just ‘being’ Andrew Stone must be demeaning in itself).

For the remaining days of 2012, can we shift our focus to our more unsung people? You know, those that actually deserve recognition, and not unborn babies and distant royal arses. Let’s not leave it to the Pride of Britain Awards.

WORDS: Courtney Buck

www.twitter.com/BuckTheWorld_