While escapism can sometimes be productive, a way of reducing stress, it can become a dangerous habit. Escapism can be compared to an addiction in the sense that it prevents you from taking care of everyday business, situations, and issues. People begin to engage themselves in a fabricated reality which does not actually exist. Some examples of escapism include:
- THE INTERNET: In Internet addiction, people spend a huge amount of their day/night surfing the web. They prefer to be on the computer than interacting with people in the real world. Examples include: Facebook, Chat Rooms, Internet Gambling.
- DIE HARD FAN: People who get excessively involved of fans of TV shows or movies are heading towards a unhealthy level of escapism. Examples of such people are "Trekkies" or "Twihards". These fans devote much of their time to their franchise, trying to escape into a desired world that seems to them as an improvement of their own reality
- EVERYDAY ACTIVITIES: If someone pursues any activity to a point where it begins to consume their entire reality it can have severe consequences. An example are eating disorders: A person might begin to eat to little or to much to gain confidence in their altered version of reality, because they feel very insecure about their image in the real world. Another example is oversleeping - some people will spend over half their day in bed as a way to escape from a reality that is filled with emotional or physical pain.
Any form of escapism can technically be healthy as long as it is consumed in moderation. Any over consumption of an activity can lead to a slippery slope ending in the inability to survive in reality.
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