It really seems like this lockdown situation is a perfect storm for escapism.
And we’re only just beginning to see some of the effects that this is going to cause throughout the whole world, it seems.
I mean, we’re really being encouraged to hide away at home.
And it doesn’t matter what you do.
You don’t actually have to do anything.
Just remain isolated.
Stay at home.
Don’t interact with other people.
Now, you can do anything you want on your computer.
Whatever you want to do, that’s what your computer’s there for.
This computer, your phone, your electronics: this is your lifeline.
This is your connection to the real world.
Anything you want to do, no problem, just do it online.
Do it through a screen.
Do anything you want on a screen, just don’t do anything with real people.
That’s the situation we’re in, and that is the world of electronic escapism.
We are being perfectly set up.
The table is being set for us to waste time, dive in to imaginary worlds being presented to us on screens.
And really that’s almost like part of this whole thing is that we are not actually being asked to do anything.
We’re not being required to do anything, we’re just required to not do things.
So it’s just, you know, here you go, stay in your place, and do whatever you want.
It’s not like we’re being occupied by some kind of duties that we have to fulfill, necessarily.
Now, if you happen to have a job keeping you busy, that’s great, but otherwise, you know, you’re really on your own to do whatever you want.
So, as somebody who has spent a lot of time in electronic escapism in the past, you know, wow, I really don’t envy anyone who is still struggling with this, and I think it would be a very difficult time now to somehow pull yourself away from this kind of screen-staring time-wasting.
Because the whole environment is now set up perfectly for that.
And yeah, over a few days, I got a little bit into the video games, spent a few days in electronic escapism myself, and had to get out of that, because really, it gets old pretty fast, and it doesn’t really lead to any improvements in the real world, so it just really fills up the days.
It’s amazing how fast the hours go by, just filled up, just staring at the blinking lights on a computer screen.
And then by the end of the day, it’s like “Oh, I guess it’s late, time for me to go to sleep.” But the feeling of nothing being accomplished, no improvement in my life somehow lasting, in terms of somehow improving my situation.
Maybe if I just, you know- if you’re doing any other kind of work or activity besides pure escapism, you can get some kind of benefit at the end of the day.
Maybe you just earned some money.
Maybe you improved your situation by, you know, building something or cleaning something.
Or maybe you improved your human relationships.
But in pure, you know, watching Netflix or playing video games, there’s really nothing that you’re left with.
Except that it does a very good job of filling in the time.
I mean, time can be filled no problem.
You never have to be bored again, ever.
You can simply find that next piece of entertainment that will fill the hours.
And this is something that’s always present as really a danger for all of us, that it’s always possible to waste so much time in empty time-filling.
Just pushing boredom away through filling in the time with entertainment.
And that’s always something that we can do.
But now, especially, it almost seems like we’re being perfectly set up for this.
So I think that this time, many people are going to suffer with this increased escapism and this sort of lackadaisical laziness of just trying to seek the next piece of entertainment hour after hour.
And it’s only gonna be some people that are able to avoid that.
Those who can avoid it can become stronger with this time, somehow find a way to use this time to do something that is really valuable.
And I’m still trying to find out what it is.
But I know the first step is to let myself get bored.
It’s OK.
I don’t need to be constantly entertained.
I don’t need to escape from whatever this is.
I can just be here in this moment and find something, some little thing to do in each moment, to make the situation better.
#escapism #bored #donothing