Escapism is a term that is used to define a way to redirect a person’s attention from the unpleasant things of everyday life to more pleasant ones.
What is ESCAPISM – definition and meaning in simple words.
In simple terms, Escapism is an escape from reality, an attempt by a person to break away and hide from the gray, cruel, boring everyday world and find solace in some more pleasant activity. The simplest example of escapism is people’s tendency to play video games. After all, it is by playing that we are transported to fictional worlds that are distant from reality. During the game, we temporarily forget about various household worries and other problems. In fact, we temporarily run away from the real world, from its problems and worries.
Forms of Escapism, or where people run away from their problems.
As it probably already became clear from the definition, almost any activity that allows a person to escape from real life can be considered escapism. And there are a lot of such activities. Some of them are quite harmless, while others, on the contrary, are very destructive and dangerous, both for the escapist himself and his environment.
We will talk about healthy and unhealthy escapism a little later, but for now, we will simply list a few basic and common forms of escape from reality. So, this is:
- Reading literature;
- Watching TV shows and serials;
- Video games;
- Internet and social networks;
- Role playing and cosplay;
- Art;
- Religion, meditation, monasticism;
- Sports and travel;
- Work;
- Binge-eating;
- Alcoholism and drug addiction.
What is Healthy (normal) and Unhealthy (not normal) Escapism?
If we talk about escapism as a phenomenon, then first of all, it should be noted that almost all people, to a greater or lesser extent, are escapists. Agree, if you think about it, you will surely find an activity that allows you to break away from the problems of the real world for a while. It follows from this that escapism is not some specific psychological disorder (although in extreme forms, unhealthy escapism can indicate the presence of mental abnormalities). Escapism, as a phenomenon of the human psyche, has existed for a huge number of years. Evidence of this can serve as rock paintings in the caves of primitive people. In this example, primitive art has become a distraction from everyday hunting for a mammoth and escaping from predators. With the development of human culture in general, there were more and more ways to escape from reality, and now there are a lot of escape options.
Healthy escapism is a way to relieve stress.
Healthy escapism can be called almost any hobby or activity that is not harmful to health and does not interfere with a person’s normal social and active life. That is, if you like to play a computer game in the evening or watch a few episodes of a television show, then this is absolutely normal. But, this is normal, provided that your hobby does not interfere with your personal (family) life or work. It is the same with literature, art, or even religion. In general, everything is fine, but only when it is moderate.
Unhealthy escapism is an option to get even more problems.
As it has probably already become clear, unhealthy escapism is everything that goes to extremes. So, for example, it could be:
- Dependence on the Internet or video games (ludomania) – a person goes headlong, entirely ignoring the real world, spending almost all the time at the computer.
- Alcoholism and drug addiction – a person becomes a hostage to his own habit and state of intoxication.
- Workaholism – a person is completely immersed in work, forgetting about personal life, family and so on.
