Escapism withdraws people from their ordinary life. People used to daydream in bed, drink booze, or do jigsaw puzzles to escape their reality. In modern times, our escapism methods have become highly sophisticated.
Escapism is much like the movie Click, in which the protagonist can simply fast forward through parts of their life. Only at the end of the movie does the protagonist realize that what is skipped is life itself. When we use escapist methods such as drugs, video games, or TikToks, we end up pressing fast forward through life without actually living it. Once we come out of our multiple hour escape, nothing has changed as we remove our thumb from the fast forward button.
We can observe that escapism exists all over our society, and it is not inherently bad. Playing sports, enjoying a movie with friends, or going on a family vacation are valid examples. We must also be honest and realize that methods of hyper-escapism such as video games or endless videos are not much different than heroine. How would you feel to learn your coworker goes home at night and does recreational supervised heroin, then wakes up in the morning and goes to work again? Aside from the obvious stigma, once you realize the parallels between the actions you understand the truth.
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