The modern age is overwhelmed by an onslaught of information expanding at near-exponential speed: Reports of humanitarian crises, advances in scientific and cultural fields, persistent political rivalries, and the bureaucratic complexities of daily life all converge into this single reality. Is this phenomenon the reality our forefathers envisioned? The human experience has been reduced to a state of perpetual worry and planning for the sake of “adaptability” and “precaution.” We worry about our studies, our work, our savings, we plan in anticipation for disasters or shortcomings, we check up on our friends through the various platforms offered to us, comparing their joyful highlights to our bleakest episodes. There is no real period of true respite anymore.
We wonder, we think, we analyze, and we deduce. With modern education comes the weight of the world and the countless responsibilities bestowed upon us. Has our existence been chained to a constant state of cognitive stress? Are “sucking it up” and “learn to live with it” the only societal norms that should be enforced to not fall behind the permanent revolving wheel of progress? Is it cowardice to try and avoid this state completely when possible?
The tendency to seek distraction, and relief from what normally must be endured is not a negative practice, it never was. It is not a tendency observed in clinically depressed patients or individuals who willingly refuse to forge and amend social bonds. It is not the unwillingness to solve one’s problems nor is it the denial to act on injustices life presents. One can be as stoic as the rock that builds the foundations we walk on and still yearn for a mere moment to escape the momentary hardships of the cruelest situations. Thus, no philosophical way of living, albeit stoic or hedonistic, is deprived of this engrained ache for reprieve.
This escapism is an inherent part of human life. It is a natural desire that seeks true moments of respite through the various entertainment and mindful methods provided by our societies, and through our cognitive ability to imagine and fantasize. We simply cannot act without auxiliary constructions. Reading a fantasy book is no waste of time. Playing video games is not immature behavior linked to antisocial tendencies. Hiking, binge-watching, daydreaming. These are honest substitutes for revolution as Ernst Bloch writes, these are moments that, by simply existing to exist, call for a radical social change and a more humane social order.
Therefore, do not feel guilty when your mind drifts away to the inner workings of your imagination. Do not feel as if time was wasted when you entertain yourself from the heavy workload you carry. However, do not permanently withdraw yourself into these abstract retreats, mistaking them for substitutes to real life. Escaping reality was and will always be an intricate part of our experience in life. Wasn’t the internet portrayed as an escape from reality during its emergence?