Howdy my Hedites, how’s your week been? I hope everything’s going in the right direction for you and those close to you. Today I feel a desire to talk about the worrying future of escapism.

I don’t know about you, but the whole idea about the metaverse scares me as a concept; terrifies me actually. It’s being advertised and promoted as a way to experience almost the entirety of the real world but instead in the virtual.

The fact that the technology and the platforms being built for this metaverse endeavour, are still very much in their infancy. Doesn’t fill me with too much confidence as growth in these types of areas, usually don’t have straight line increases but rather tend to have exponential gains.

Don’t get me wrong, escapism has always existed, I view social media as the most recent development down this path. So, much of this social media landscape is fake and really is just a whole game of fools fooling fools, just to get fooled themselves. However, before social media became the most frequented escape destination, there was the Television. The black screen, an omnipresent feature in the modern developed world. Even before Television, Radio was the media to; turn your brain off for a while (But I am talking about decades ago though).

To my understanding, we have become known as a species who wants to run away from reality. I understand why someone might feel that way, but what I also know is that the more you run away from the problems and issues in your life; the bigger and badder the consequences become, not just for you but all those people in your circle of influence. What has facilitated this increasing reliance on escapism in our societies? Well, all those technologies mentioned above do not operate in isolation of one another, but rather compliment one another, trapping people in a virtual net that some people never get out of.

Someone might say that, I’m using social media at this moment to connect with all of you, doesn’t that make that escapism? No, this channel and its content are about developing ourselves in the real world, so that we can become the most ideal versions of ourselves. When we are on that uplifting path, the lustful allure of the virtual world losses much of its appeal. I don’t know about you, but I’d much rather be happy and grateful in the real world than living out the insipid fantasies of the virtual.

To link back to the metaverse and what I’m terrified about. I feel in some capacity it might have some good uses; like any tool should. Then again, the past has shown us time and time again that people are drawn towards the shiny and new, just like a moth to a flame. This technology could have the potential to conveniently design and edit virtual environments and experiences that are specifically tailored for people to live out their personal fantasies. This in my mind would lead to at least a subpopulation of society feeling completely unfulfilled unless they are in the meta verse. I just hope it doesn’t get to the point where people spend most of their lives looking through a Virtual Reality headset.

Look my Hedites, I feel like I’m starting to ramble, so I’ll leave it there. This was more a piece about something that has been weighing on my mind recently. I’m sure you share some of my concerns or maybe you have some of your own, if that’s the case then comment down below, and don’t forgot to leave a like.

Thanks to you all!!!