I have never dreamed of becoming a business leader. But there were scenes in Joshua Michael Stern’s recently released, scintillating biopic, “Jobs,” that made me seriously reconsider my ambitions. The movie highlighted immovable showdowns between industry titans like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates.

By glorifying tech titans who deserve to be glorified for their intelligence and innovation, the movie helped redefine “celebrity” according to its positive connotation: a role model young people can emulate.

In 2010 with “The Social Network,” we paid similar homage to another tech revolutionary, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg. Within a few years, new role models will come to life when Aaron Sorkin adapts Walter Isaacson’s equally scintillating biography, “Steve Jobs.”

It would be fitting to call these depictions celebrity propaganda, because they are rescuing the term from its current dire state.

Before the proliferation of mass media, being a celebrity in America meant being great at what you do. Everyone knew Henry Ford and P.T. Barnum and Thomas Edison because they earned their visibility by making contributions that furthered human capabilities.

With today’s mass media though, the concept of celebrity has become more saturated than a flooded swimming pool.

To be famous and influential these days, all you have to do is pop out an immature amount of kids (“Jon and Kate”) or lose an obscene amount of weight (“The Biggest Loser”) or be breathtakingly gorgeous (see Kardashian, Kim).

For a while, we no longer cared if a celebrity was great at what he or she did. We only cared if they could get our attention.

That is starting to change.

By redefining celebrities, Hollywood introduces quality role models from less visible professions, particularly tech CEOs. Everyone knows visionaries like Jobs, Zuckerberg and Bill Gates because, like Ford, Barnum and Edison, their innovations have only furthered our society.

The trend continues to grow. More tech visionaries, particularly females, are emerging from the shadow of the preeminent titans. Ex-Google executive Marissa Mayer became a household name when she became the first female tech CEO in 2012, when she took over Yahoo.

Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg became a national name after using her platform to write a woman’s empowerment book, “Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead,” earlier this year.

It is fitting that the tech industry, which created the celebrity monster, has made worthy role models of its iconoclastic leaders. Kids should dream of innovating. These dreams are more realistic than becoming a professional athlete or actor. They are rooted in an industry that is defining our time and creating the most jobs.

It’s imperative to continue pushing young people in creative business directions.

On the heels of “The Social Network” and “Jobs” and “Lean In,” we must continue using visible industries to illuminate positive role models from less visible industries.

The film portrayal of tech visionaries is flourishing, after all. “The Social Network” was nominated for eight Academy Awards. “Steve Jobs” was Amazon’s best-selling book of 2011 before it actually came out. “Lean In” topped The New York Times and Amazon bestseller lists.

We have been conditioned to admonish our celebrity obsession. But, the obsession is only negative if that’s how it influences its impressionable consumers. Technology gave us the paparazzi drug. Its creators are teaching us how to use it for good.

Jarrad Saffren is a senior political science major. His column appears weekly. He can be reached at jdsaffre@syr.edu.

Published on August 27, 2013 at 1:30 am