Gradients and Pitfalls of Escaping Reality

Escapism can be a healthy (and necessary) coping mechanism, but it can also lead to the adoption of unhealthy habits. What makes one more susceptible to crossing the line from helpful to harmful?

Escapism is the act of avoiding becoming aware of negative facts or beliefs (Longeway, 1990) while coping is a certain regulatory strategy an individual may use to mitigate negative emotions (Gross, 1998). The role of escapism has long been debated – after all, what is the utility, for any rational being, to avoid accepting clear facts? Imagine you’re getting evicted from your apartment. It would be more practical to accept this fact and begin the search for new housing, instead of maintaining denial of the situation. Yet, Longeway (1990) argues that escapism can be beneficial when the facts are too dire and depressing to be accepted, but cannot be changed. Novel work suggests that whether escapism can be judged as a positive or negative coping mechanism depends on factors like one’s underlying motivation (Kosa & Uysal, 2020; Stenseng et al., 2021). So what are the good, the bad, and the grey areas of escapism?

Stenseng et al. (2021) developed and tested a dualistic model of escapism. In this model, there are two crucial motivational factors behind escapism: self-expansion and self-suppression. Self-expansion is defined as engaging in an activity with the motivation of increasing your mastery, seeking positive affect, and improving self-growth. Contrarily, self-suppression is related to suppressing negative emotions, avoiding critical self-evaluation, and rumination. Thus, self-expansion facilitates improved psychological well-being and willingness to approach and solve threatening problems, while self-suppression is related to ‘blocking out’ uncomfortable feelings and avoiding thinking about or solving threatening problems. Stenseng et al. (2021), tested these factors in a student sample who either engaged in gaming or streaming service use. In gamers, self-expansion was related to positive outcomes of escapism, such as general satisfaction, while self-suppression was related to Internet gaming disorder. In the streaming services users, self-expansion was associated with positive affect and problem-solving, while self-suppression was related to problem avoidance and negative affect. Therefore, this model shows a clear distinction in a person’s motivation for engaging in an escapism technique, and how that plays a crucial role in the effect it may have on one’s well-being. 

Kosa and Uysal (2020) further supported that escapism may be healthy or harmful, depending on how an individual approaches it. Escapism may provide solace in four main ways: as a method of emotional regulation, mood management, coping, or recovery. In the context of gaming, the type of game one picks up may already inform the outcome one will experience. Results indicated a correlation between communal games that foster social interaction and positive outcomes of gaming. Further, some games can improve one’s sense of interoceptive awareness – the ability to know one’s internal state. This factor may then help with emotion regulation and resembles Stenseng et al. (2021)’s idea of escapism as self-expansion.

Where the line between helpful and harmful seems to be crossed is when escapism is focused on self-suppression rather than self-expansion (Stenseng et al., 2021). A relatable example is the concept of problematic Instagram use (PIU), entailing the use of the platform specifically in a way that resembles an addiction, involving withdrawal if one refrains from its use, mood modification, and relapse, among others (Kırcaburun & Griffiths, 2019). Thus, while many of us use Instagram, some of us are at risk of becoming addicted to it, which would lead to its problematic use. Kırcaburun and Griffiths (2019) found that the connection between engaging in many Instagram features (watching live streams, liking/commenting on posts) and PIU is mediated by escapism. This indicates that a person uses Instagram features to escape from reality, which in turn may lead to PIU. In this study, escapism underlies seeking a higher feeling of co-presence and interaction with others. This is reminiscent of Stenseng et al. (2021)’s definition of escapism as self-suppression, where one avoids self-evaluation and focuses on others instead through, for example, watching Instagram live streams. Thus, using Instagram to block reality and forget your troubles can do you more harm than good in the long term. 

It appears that escapism holds both good and bad. What about the grey areas? Even if your motivation to engage in escapism is healthy, can you still take a detour from the ‘good’ path and slip into addictive behaviours? Siricharoen (2021) states that – despite initial motivation – individuals are at risk of developing an addiction to gaming. Gaming can inherently foster a new mindset that promotes avoiding the real world as it provides solace from the many difficulties of reality. This is easy to imagine, considering the wonderful and vast alternative worlds that immersive games or virtual reality can offer us. Therefore, any escapist technique may serve as an initial motive and future reinforcer of addictive behaviour (Jouhki & Oksanen, 2022). Apart from this, one’s brain structure is also a factor in whether an individual may slip into the dark sides of escapism. Siricharoen (2021) discusses that if an individual possesses an unresponsive reward system, they are more prone to becoming addicted to the dopamine release that video games elicit. For example, many depressed individuals struggle to experience rewarding feelings from daily stimuli, such as a nice meal, due to their altered reward (dopaminergic) systems (Martin-Soelc, 2009). Thus, such individuals would be at a higher risk of becoming addicted to escapist techniques that relieve depressive feelings. Additionally, one’s baseline stress levels may contribute to the development of an addiction, regardless of motivation for escapism. Stressors increase noradrenergic locus coeruleus activity. Belujon and Grace (2011) showed that noradrenaline is related to a higher susceptibility to addiction development. Individual differences also exist across individuals’ oxytocin systems. Oxytocin – the ‘cuddle hormone’ – is another neuromodulator involved in complex brain processes that may foster addiction (Buisman-Pijlman et al., 2014). Thus, escapism must be engaged with care and consideration, as an unfavourable outcome may always be lurking behind a new habit. 

According to all of this, what do you do next time you have to find urgent new housing in a city like Amsterdam? Do you dive into your favourite TV show to take a short break from real life, or would that lead you to binge one episode after another,  procrastinating the issue as long as you can? Personally, I find Stenseng et al. (2021)’s idea of self-suppression and self-expansion difficult to apply in practice. I agree that your initial motivation may not matter as much once your brain gets hooked on the dopamine high that many escapist techniques provide. It is difficult to judge beforehand how susceptible you may be to getting addicted to escapism. I find that once I begin a Murakami book, I am always itching to get back into that trance of reading about his intricate worlds. Yet, I cannot imagine a life in which I read no Murakami books out of fear of neglecting reality. I believe some escapist techniques are best limited in their use. Video games and social media use can be incredibly addicting, even if they may increase your positive affect or even teach you a few new skills at the beginning. So, how do you draw the line between good and bad escapism? My advice is to be wary of how different escapist stimuli affect you long-term. If you notice that a certain stimulus is swallowing you whole, I encourage you to take a step back and seek out a few reminders of the beauty of the real world. <<