Escapism

[Niachu]

In your opinion, when does it become a problem?

As some of you know, I have a tumblr, and that site is downright evil if you're trying to kick an online addiction. Gifs born every second, funny blogs, endless content from the fandom of your choice--and what's worse, the slacker attitude is glorified in many ways there. It's my vehicle of choice when it comes to escapism.

Now, I can hold down a job and go to school just fine, but I've realized that too much is too much when I spend most of my free time in my room when I could be doing more productive things like exercise, volunteer work, sorting my trash, whatever. I feel like I should earn my leisure time and my place on earth as a whole, so I'm planning my days so they're less focused on doing nothing.

So, guys, how do you escape? Is it a problem for you?

 

[Null]

I don't like escapism. When you're outside the world of reality you don't get anything done. When what you do doesn't further yourself you're wasting your time. When what you look forward to at the end of school or work is a video game and life is merely the time in between escapes, you're crippled.

I hate people that idolize Japan. I hate shit like Nava-Verse and CWCville or (nsfw) this. I hate shit that people obsess over, like Game of Thrones or Dungeons & Dragons or Lord of the Rings.

It's even worse when you are NEET. I know someone who literally does nothing but eat and play video games every day, and if not for her father forcing her to get into church activities or look for fast food jobs, she's pretty much just rotting until she's allowed to enter Navy bootcamp, and for her sake I hope they still want her now that she's so much bigger and unhealthier.

All of the projects I do help me understand technology better. I knew when I was a little kid I needed to invest the time I wasted into becoming a little better myself. If not for this state of mind I'd be completely fucking worthless right now.

 

[exball]

I play video games to ignore shit. I might have a minor addiction but I still so other stuff like read books and take walks.

 

[Niachu]

I found something interesting to encourage me to stay off the computer. BOINC, or Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing. It's middleware that you can choose a ton of productive "projects" from to lend your computer's processing power to (cancer research, environmental mapping), usually while it's idle. I'd encourage everyone to look into it.

I hate people that idolize Japan. I hate shit like Nava-Verse and CWCville or (nsfw) this. I hate shit that people obsess over, like Game of Thrones or Dungeons & Dragons or Lord of the Rings.

It's even worse when you are NEET. I know someone who literally does nothing but eat and play video games every day, and if not for her father forcing her to get into church activities or look for fast food jobs, she's pretty much just rotting until she's allowed to enter Navy bootcamp, and for her sake I hope they still want her now that she's so much bigger and unhealthier.

Hate is a strong word, but I agree with the sentiment. I think everyone has an obligation to contribute to the world and an obligation to themselves to evolve as people.

The problem is that most people aren't willing to change unless they have to. The NEET has parents who won't kick him out and force him to get a job, and it's just easier for him to sit around doing nothing, getting his emotional fulfillment (however superficial) through his waifu and the many video games that offer power fantasy thrill rides. It offers a more immediate fix than making yourself a valuable person, and all that that entails. It's really unfortunate that this habit has become as popular as it has.

I guess it comes down to keeping your departures from reality in check. If there's laundry or dishes that need to be done, do it. If you haven't gotten out in awhile, take a walk, the human body was made to move. If you're not contributing to your household when you could reasonably be expected to, start the process of making yourself employable. Play time feels a lot better when you earn it. That's where I am with escapism right now.

 

[Trombonista]

I've been meaning to cut down my Internet usage. I think I might be addicted.

 

[Watcher]

Oh boy a topic I have lots of opinions on.

Escapism is something that I believe is very central to the experience of being human. A big thing that separates us from animals is our ability to conceive of tomorrow. Not only tomorrow but also predict what could happen, and imagine if something else could happen instead.

Throughout human history there has been a profound amount of escapism. One could very much argue religion is a form of escapism that is ingrained into us. I don't think escapism limits life at all. Quite the contrary, I think escaping from reality for a little while allows us perspective on our actions and our lives. The guy who made the first cell phone for Motorola admitted he wanted to build Captain Kirk's communicator from Star Trek. A little bit of escapism is fun, it should inspire ones self to produce rather than directly inhibit it.

I really do think there is a big difference from a person that injects a small amount of escapism and say... Wizardchan. With that you have people depressed because they're too ingrained into their own escapism, and too lazy to wanna retreat out of it. As much as I like things like fantasy and science fiction, I would be the first to admit that a big reason I like those things are because of the things I've done in life. That my own perspective in life enriched my taste in fantasy as well.

A big focus on my life is on producing escapism for other people and not just myself. It's a big reason why I like the concept of modifications for video games. The ability to change a person's fantasy and bend it to your whim. It's exciting, and it's very much human.

 

[c-no]

I play video games to ignore shit. I might have a minor addiction but I still so other stuff like read books and take walks.

Same here.

 

[ChurchOfGodBear]

This is a pretty important topic to me. I'm really wired to enjoy escapism. I like movies and books with really rich back stories, I play vidya that tend to take dozens or hundreds of hours to finish, and my ipod is filled with tv shows and music that I can use to take myself back to different points in my life. I do like to be able to retreat to my fantasy worlds, even if it's only for 30 seconds at a time.

Why do I live this way? Well, if you look at my whole life, I've always had fairly strong family commitments. Sometimes they were more than one person should have been expected to carry. I always worked hard in school, and after school I worked hard at my job. I've always felt like I had just a bit more on my plate than I could balance, and the escapism was a bit of a release valve. When the stress kicked in, a little fantasy calmed me to the point where I could soldier on with real life.

For me, it was never about running away from reality, it was about having one more tool to deal with reality.

I agree that escapism is part of the human condition, and that we all have a desire to imagine the world as it isn't. Of course, this can be done to an unhealthy extent. It's helped me, though.

 

[ToroidalBoat]

It's OK in healthy moderation. But if you prefer escapism to your real life, it's a sign that your life or your perspective of it sucks.

 

[Slowboat to China]

I'm a fan of escapism without the 'escape' part. Reading books, watching TV, indulging in a bit of fandom--these can be healthy diversions or even ways to expand the mind and interests. We dream and we're able to conceive of a future, virtually guaranteeing that we would become storytellers in one way or another.

I would only really call entertainment escapism when it does reach that point of actively being something that people use to escape from the real world, like Chris with his Lego high school. When you'd rather live in Westeros or Hogwarts than real life, when you skip work because My Little Pony is on, when all your friends are on Tumblr and the most important thing in the world is reblogging that awesome Cumberbatch gif set--that's when it becomes toxic. You need to be able to keep your entertainment from negatively impacting your real life and responsibilities.

 

[_blank_]

Well, to preface myself a little bit, let me explain where I am in life. Right now I am working with a multimedia company that started with just radio and still remains predominantly radio. Now, this place is remote, as in, if I wanted to eat at McDonalds, I'd have to drive 70 miles to get to the closest one. Between there and here, there is nothing but cropland, flood plains, and an ever-present white sky (seriously, we only get sunny skies like maybe a quarter of the year).

Where I live is literally underneath the station I work at. The commute is great, especially during the winters where it's normal to hit -30 F before you account for wind chill, but all the same, it can be very maddening. For one, while my shift is a usual 9-5, because I live the closest to the place, if something fucks up between 5p-2a, I'm usually the person that has to solve it.

I really don't get out much because the community I live in is a very tightly-knit, very conservative town. About 90% of the people that live here grew up here (I only moved up here back in 2011), and the only things to do here is hang around in the bars, or talk with the farmers at the cafes. Oh, and course church groups. However, I don't drink, I don't farm, and while I am classified as a Christian by my upbringing, I have a thing against organized religion, and largely see churches as businesses that cater largely to those who want to find salvation without putting in much effort. But I digress, by and large the people I have become acquaintances with are people I work with at the station, but none of them really share any similar interests to me, and conversations more or less become and exercise for me to make sure I can still converse on a human level.

So, tl;dr version - I am essentially a transplant (actual term they use around here for people like me), living in a remote ass-end of nowhere, working/ being on-call anywhere between 9-18 hours a day, where next to no one around me shares the same interests or really is interested in hearing what I care about. To that end, I will admit to finding escapism in being online & playing vidya as a viable alternative to going to the bar and getting drunk every night and/or pretend I'm someone that I'm not just to have a social life around these parts. As pathetic as it probably sounds, conversing with people online here and the small handful of people I've known before moving to this hole via Skype is my escapism and pretty much the only thing that keeps me sane.

 

[Pikonic]

Super serious here, I'm actually drinking more as an escape. I go to the bar Wednesdays and Saturdays, and now I'm making plans for Thursdays.
Now I gotta be conscious because I know I'm dancing on the line of alcoholism.

 

[Alec Benson Leary]

I like to be alone with my thoughts a lot. I go walking or biking a lot outside by myself. I have a bit of social anxiety which makes me not like being around people too much. But I definitely learned to moderate it. I made myself find ways to like being around people, too.

Alcohol would be another example. Now, I've never had reason to think I was becoming an alcoholic, but I've known many alcoholics so I've always been careful about it. I like to have a couple drinks pretty frequently, sometimes every night. But the last time I got actually drunk was nearly three years ago.

So really, moderation is key. You can still be a productive person if you keep your escapes in check.

 

[nsan]

My favorite "emergency exits" are Team Fortress 2 and CWCVille Library

 

[Flowers For Sonichu]

In your opinion, when does it become a problem?

As some of you know, I have a tumblr, and that site is downright evil if you're trying to kick an online addiction. Gifs born every second, funny blogs, endless content from the fandom of your choice--and what's worse, the slacker attitude is glorified in many ways there. It's my vehicle of choice when it comes to escapism.

Now, I can hold down a job and go to school just fine, but I've realized that too much is too much when I spend most of my free time in my room when I could be doing more productive things like exercise, volunteer work, sorting my trash, whatever. I feel like I should earn my leisure time and my place on earth as a whole, so I'm planning my days so they're less focused on doing nothing.

So, guys, how do you escape? Is it a problem for you?

Is there a thread where people are sharing their tumblrs? I bet some of you run excellent blogs.

My preferred form of escape are RPGs. I'm playing the fuck out of Star Ocean 4 right now.