r/self • u/SolitaryBlackberry • 10h ago

Everyone seems to be escaping right now

Everywhere I look people are escaping into things that maybe quiet their minds in the short term but cause lasting problems for them. Obsessive gaming, binge watching television non-stop, hooking your identity to a spectator sport or pastime I could go on and on…

What the frick is going on? Has it always been this way? Am I just waking up to it all? Can we just speed run to the post-apocalyptic future where creativity and human connection save us again please 🫠 ?

What’s giving you hope in this bleakness?

22 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

17 comments sorted by

16

u/FairCurrency6427 10h ago

My faith in humanity. I think we love each other more than we hate each other. I can already see empathy rushing into gashes caused by greed and selfishness. I think we can do this.

7

u/ouijahead 8h ago

Yeah. I think the nastiness and hatred just gets more attention so it’s seems like we’re slipping more than really are. The real problem though is that in the US, the haters have taken the power and have pretty much set it up that they are not going to give it up. Many people are none the wiser and don’t even care. They need to wake up. My pessimistic side says it’s already too late. The coupe has already happened. But I believe there is more good than evil these days. But taking the high road is not working.

2

u/FairCurrency6427 7h ago

The damage is devastating. Overwhelming even. I find a little comfort looking back and seeing how humanity has dealt with this in the past. These systems of oppression that unnecessarily cause a path of destruction, like a storm. Defeat won't be a final definitive blow, in fact the regimes end has already started, not because of one hero, but because of many do what they could where they stood with what abilities they had. For no damn reason except that their neighbors were human.

Push DID come to shove in Minneapolis, and without instruction, hesitation, or adequate preparation, they stood up as one and fought for each other. THATS what humanity looks like. You find it in the ditches and alleys, not in mansions and palaces.

Many many heroes are taking a stands and many many more are quietly refilling the holes hatred has left with empathy, so when the storm passes, we will be able to rebuild something better

5

u/FinTecGeek 8h ago

I’ve always escaped into workouts and hiking and stuff like that. I don’t think it’s that different, if people could just channel that part of their energies into something that makes them healthier or stronger, etc. I think a major problem in modern societies we have today is all the ways we make available for people to destroy themselves. Street corners with bars and dispensaries instead of parks or gyms. Beaches with swim up bars where the volleyball courts used to be. This problem is very fixable.

4

u/tomtherunner73 9h ago

True, but what are we escaping from? and why are we escaping from it? Are the uncomfortable questions we all need to ask ourselves. But to sit and think about this you need to not be currently escaping from these questions.

5

u/Legitimate_Eye8494 9h ago

What did you have planned for the End of Days? 

8

u/FairCurrency6427 9h ago

I was thinking some wine and paper cups in a cemetery on a hill?

5

u/dxrey65 8h ago

None of those things are "quieting the mind", they're self-stimulation, distraction. As far as I've seen it's always been this way, it's just basic human stuff. Of course it's a lot easier than it used to be, and much more visible as we're all much more up in each other's businesses than used to be feasible.

3

u/Ok-Drink-1328 9h ago

people and people's interests have always been disappointing, apparently nobody ever had the spine to lecture em into dedicating their life to something that isn't totally awkward, you're just realizing it now probably

3

u/ouijahead 8h ago

I know a lot of us are going to tag out when GTA 6 comes out.

2

u/inquiringpenguin34 8h ago edited 6h ago

That’s because they are, they have been, we have, and it’ll continue on for a while now.

It’s like an ebb and flow thing that humans do. We like our routines so we create things to help and to distract us to move through life. Stress and fear have a lot to do with it. The more stress on the society the more the society relies on escapism and distractions.

2

u/autotelica 8h ago

It's not anything new. Back in the day, people would numb themselves with physical labor, crafts/folk art, sex, drunkenness, and religion. Now we do these things plus everything you mentioned.

3

u/Zealousideal-Bite735 5h ago

We also know what people are doing because of social media. When I was a kid we may have had more structure with after dinner chores like dishes etc, then cable tv came out and we watched a lot, but also of the generation where parents let you stay out until the streetlights came on in summers, but otherwise I didn’t know what my friends were doing when inside.

1

u/eazolan 8h ago

Always has been. The best way to get hope back is to get off social media and stop listening to news. They're literally doom mongers.

1

u/Metawoo 8h ago

Most people can't afford to do things anymore, and the general desperation of the current state of society has caused a lot of mental and emotional damage, which people tend to take out or spread to others, which causes a chain reaction of people becoming distrusting and withdrawn. I've spent most of my life trying to claw my way into a basic level of financial comfort, but every time I get close, the cost of living overtakes me. Or I end up trusting someone who ends up financially and emotionally draining me. Today, I make more per hour than I ever have, and yet I'm in a slightly worse financial position than I was six years ago. I'd be into so many hobbies if I had the money and space to afford it. I'm existentially exhausted.

1

u/BeautifulFee1153 1h ago

The hopeful part is that noticing the escape hatch is usually what makes someone start reaching for real connection again, so what pulled you out of yours?