Escapism and the "Metaverse"

In this article, Donavan reviews a view on the metaverse: that it facilitates escapism. But perhaps we can escape to more enriching hideouts?

Watching what people have done to kill time on the train is eye-opening (pun-intended).

It is undeniable that the broadsheet has given way to rich media such as games and movies on smartphones today. We invite games and movies to permeate every ounce of free time we have, yet report sleep deprivation. Why the apparent dissonance?

If we opine that games and movies are simply two types of escapism from an often relentless reality in Singapore, Thirst opines that we can go even further to suggest the metaverse’s attractiveness stems from escapism, not necessarily because of the “feel-good” vibes we discuss in popular media on the possibilities of the metaverse, but because of a lack of identity and security in the real world.

While not in popular discourse yet, there have been Quora murmurs on the relation between the metaverse and escapism too. Proponents say the metaverse offers an alternate reality that is not reality. Opponents say we need to dig digger to uncover the root causes for its users deciding that escapism from reality is for them.

I take a view that such a discussion is not new, but an evergreen one, as humans balance the desire to imagine a better future (itself an escape), the need to take a breather, and avoid simply retreating into one’s shell and pretending reality is still when it in fact is not. This is loosely analogous, but not quite the fight, flight or freeze response.

Much of human development stems from persistent questioning on “how society can improve”. To some extent, I can empathise with metaverse proponents who champion concepts such as “decentralisation” to stem power abuse and imbalance, issues that have always been worth fighting for, such as the emancipation of slaves in 1863 by Abraham Lincoln. After all, not everyone is privileged enough to live lives in countries whose leaders are at least sane enough to provide for a good enough standard of living, a useful spectrum of freedoms and a mind that is alive to leverage some free time we have to capture thoughts about the world in podcasts, and write Substack articles such as this as opposed to being slaves for money. Some people’s realities are them being enslaved to work they do not enjoy, resulting in stresses they remedy with metaphorical opiates such as games and Korean drama, many of whose lifeless gazes permeate through the public transport of cities all over the world.

Perhaps the central problem is one of economics: scarcity. Reality, and the multitude of escape hatches all compete for our time. But there are no model answers to how we should allocate our time to solve the problems we must solve in the real world before deciding how to spend whatever fraction of time left (if there is) on other activities we may want to do, be it in reality or elsewhere. Yet we are constantly being pressured by pressures from peers to catch up with the next Korean drama, or commercial companies to stay hip with the latest iPhone. And then, to ensure we maximise our time, we run the Korean drama on 1.5x speed (so that we can binge on more of them, so that we have something to talk about at the lunchtime gathering with colleagues), or download the latest games on our iPhones just to justify ourselves we spend our top dollar well.

The irony of the previous paragraph is how, what started from a seemingly noble discussion about power imbalances and slavery has turned on its head. A closer read of the previous paragraph hides a snarky interpretation that perhaps, we are the slaves of societal pressures that are the victims of a power imbalance. Why should we agree an idea is good simply because an advertisement, or a fantastic marketing gimmick said so? But we do anyway. It is human to compete and not wanting to be perceived as “backward”. Perhaps we hallucinate about snarky, judgemental eyes from behind our shoulders. But perhaps we do all of that because we boxed ourselves into an insecure position, and find it increasingly difficult to dig ourselves out of the hamster wheel of work, commute and metaphorical opiate.

But claiming it is all about “being comfortable in one’s skin” without suggesting much in the way of execution sounds like yet another one of those motivational posters well-meaning (but irritating) friends share on Whatsapp. Of course everyone wants to be themselves. But how? That is why some consume metaphorical opiates since these are the only parts of life that they can claim to be willing parties of, unlike work or the dreaded commute. That is why some quit jobs and start businesses even if they cannot face commercial reality later on that their business has to sustain them, since they no longer have a job to.

Going back to the train journey I was on, I read a book along my half-an-hour commute. Specifically, a novel gifted by a friend. I rarely read works of fiction but this satirises Singapore. It is certainly nowhere as immersive as gaming in 4K, or as melodramatic as a Korean drama. But reading gives me agency to decide on the basis on how I should engage with the text (and perhaps opine on it afterwards). Reading is undoubtedly an escape for me too. But at least, for me, I find that I am not a hamster to metaphorical opiate. I see it as self-development and a way to understand the world better. Maybe I will also learn how to navigate the world better and better optimise my time in ways that align to my own aspirations. But at the heart of it, this is how I decide to use my agency.

But what is yours? What would you do on a train ride?