Pop culture continuously changes its focuses and trends. Throughout the past few years, a specific family has become the main course of attention in America: the Kardashians.

“Keeping Up with the Kardashians” first aired back in 2007, making the family the center of attention on reality TV. This show introduced the now famous Kim, Khloe, Kourtney, Kendall and Kylie.

While each socialite, model and character has had a presence and impact on society, Kim and Kylie surely are the ones who have stood out from the bunch.

Starting as Paris Hilton’s closet organizer, Kim Kardashian has made quite a tremendous journey, as she is now in the spotlight almost everywhere she goes.

Kim has changed the “ideal” body image to a more voluptuous one with more curves than the average woman. Usually she wears tighter attire to accentuate her voluptuous body features, proving that her hourglass figure is close to perfection. She is known for her beauty, body shape, status, brand and personal relationships.

The youngest of the family, Kylie, has become the focus of attention throughout the past year. She wasn’t even eighteen when she admitted to getting lip augmentation. Obviously, this caught fans’ attention worldwide, gaining her more publicity and stardom.

However, before the episode airing her admittance occurred, she stated that she solely uses lip liners to the point that she overlines her lips. As a result of this beauty trend, a dangerous activity soon emerged, “The Kylie Jenner Lip Challenge.”

Individuals, especially teenagers, suctioned their lips in a small cup until their lips swelled up enormously, giving them voluminous Kylie Jenner lips, sometimes resulting in horrific, irreversible consequences.

So the question arises, why is American society so intrigued by what this family does?

One simple answer could be that people are curious about what Kim will eat to maintain her notorious curves so that they can try to follow her lead. Perhaps some would like to know the fitness secrets from Khloe, to slim down their bodies like she did. Lots want to follow the topics discussed in Khloe’s new talk show to see what’s trendy or happening in the world. And as seen on social media, lots have been buying Kylie’s new lipstick to gain those full lips.

Or, this could all be out of pure jealousy. People may not want to see them happy, but want to live vicariously through them. The life of a Kardashian is one that many people aspire to have, filled with good looks, fancy cars, huge houses and lots and lots of expensive material goods.

Many of us couldn’t care less about the good things that happen to them, and a lot of people want to see them fail. Some want to see them make a mistake, like catching Kanye with another woman and seeing Kylie’s lips au naturel. Maybe even point and whisper about Kim’s weight gain when pregnant.

We may not realize it, but society as a whole puts the Kardashian family on a pedestal. We give them our time to continue with countless seasons of their shows and multiple spinoffs. We give them money to continue their brands by purchasing their producers. We give them attention by following them on social media.

Overall, by giving the Kardashians more attention, we are giving them more power: the power to instill in people’s minds that having a certain body feature or behaving in a certain way is exemplary, perfect and most attractive. We give them the power to continue to think that their actions and opinions are worth something more than the average individual’s.