Escapism

One of the topics I often consider is escapism and its effect on my life. My definition of escapism is a device or activity that aids in distracting from the stresses of everyday life. The use of that device is the act of escapism.

For example, one common form of escapism is drug use. By drug use I'm being inclusive of alcohol. Altering your mental state is an age old rite that allowed the participant to go to another world or state of being. An interesting note is that this particular pattern has been documented and repeated for the last five thousand or so years.

Another form of escapism that I used to pursue religiously is gaming in particular online gaming. I used to sit for hours playing games which allowed me to escape from reality and go and play in a pretend world. An interesting thing to note is that when the game became too repetitious or felt like I had to grind away at a goal I lost interest it became too much like work and achievement didn't occur fast enough to offset the work required.

One last example of escapism, that I have experience with, is reading novels. A good book with take you away to another world. Often times I have found my self so engrossed in a story that I loose complete track of time and several hours go by before I realize I need to answer reality in some form or fashion. However I have found recently that I have become to good at reading and I finish a book to quickly, which reduces my level of enjoyment, you could say that the journey was to fast and I didn't take the time to enjoy the scenery.

The conversation on escapism wouldn't be complete with out talk of taking it to the extreme. Too much drug abuse and an individual is incapable of participating in society in a meaningful way. Extreme gamers suffer from real life relationship issues. There are stories where couples got divorced, college students dropped out of high school, and couples would ignore or mistreat their kids, just so they could play a game. Those that read too much are often found to be recluses preferring to engage with their books than with other people, limiting their interaction with society where their insights would be a benefit.

Escapism has its benefits but like anything else when taken to the extreme it is more often than not detrimental to our selves, our family and our friends. The challenge I now present is what are your forms of escapism and do you take them to the extreme?

~Dale