Escapism - a solution or a stall?
- Thread starter Vanguard_Ex
- Start date
Everyone uses escapism. I like having my own little world I can mess around in when I'm between normal days. If video games help you feel less lonely, then that's good. Video games help me suppress boredom and loneliness, but I find that to be perfectly healthy. If it makes the negative emotions go away, and you aren't hurting yourself, then what's the problem?
It's probably something you really, really want to look into a mistake I made in my younger years and deeply regret now was never doing so amd evemtualy breaking down due to it. For me it was a way to filter out the fact that well my life sucked my friends werent really my friends I had next to no real attachment to them, no relationship, unresolved feelings about my family that I never talked about and so on and so forth not giving my life story away on the internet anyway.
I dont view it as healthy and these days I game very casualy and tend to think its far more important to evaluate what I'm missing in life and what my top priorities are at the end of the day its a hobby and a hobby can only fufil a guy so much it should never be centrefocus over the important things.
I dont view it as healthy and these days I game very casualy and tend to think its far more important to evaluate what I'm missing in life and what my top priorities are at the end of the day its a hobby and a hobby can only fufil a guy so much it should never be centrefocus over the important things.
I disagree in the strongest possible terms (by which I mean that when I saw you post that I exploded into a five-minute, expletive-drenched and generally unprintable rant at the ignorance and small-mindedness of your answer, despite the fact that the only audience was my monitor and keyboard).Akai Shizuku said:
The world is an endless collection of interesting things. Every book has interesting things in it from start to finish (OK, except Twilight XP). Every film - even those that promote escapism - is a fascinating lesson in the brilliant variety of what is on even this small planet (OK, except Transformers 2). Every person you meet is a lifetime's study in the intricate, beautiful complexity of the human psyche. If you think the world is boring, sir, I pity you, because you are clearly incapable of being properly interested in something.
And before you think 'oh, it's alright for some, I bet he's got all the time in the world, lives with his rich parents etc.', I am a jobless graduate searching for work in an employment black spot, running out of money and time and facing having to move away from my life here and back in with my parents. And yet, my life is full of interesting things; I can still just about afford to play in my band, still just about afford to keep the internet flowing in, still just about afford the art materials to keep my webcomic going.
'Modern life' might be downright awful, but there's plenty of space in it for interesting things. Not that I'm saying videogames aren't an interesting thing, by any manner of means, and I'm not against escapism, unless it's conducive to your attitude, which I find deeply repugnant. I realise this is borderline banhammer stuff, but in all honesty I've seldom been angrier than when I read your post.
All of those things you mentioned are a form of escape. Therefore you have further proven my point. Good day.Pocket Apocalypse said:
Also, if what I said made you angry, maybe you should get some counseling.
Escaping is only a stall. Escaping loneliness with video games is stalling the fact you don't feel whole by yourself, which is normal. Humans are social beings. But the point is, if ever there is a problem there is a solution to it. Sometimes however, the problem may not require a solution (playing games to solve being home alone) and so many people value escapism in higher regard but it doesn't mean it is anything less than escapism.
If you're going to define everything interesting as a form of escape, fair enough, but I think that's biasing the debate a bit, no?Akai Shizuku said:
Haven't we always practised escapsism? Films, books, myth, legends, whatever we call it it's still a form of escaping, imagining a time which we believe is so much better simply because it's not our own and not constrained by events we deal with.
As to whether it's healthy or not, I'd say it depends. Might not do your social life much good but I find that this sort of thing can broaden your mind (especially books). Which is more important is probably in the eye of the beholder but most people will strike a balance.
As to whether it's healthy or not, I'd say it depends. Might not do your social life much good but I find that this sort of thing can broaden your mind (especially books). Which is more important is probably in the eye of the beholder but most people will strike a balance.