tijaco

There is something deafening about the sound of silence for some people. We live in a world filled with distractions. We are addicted to these distractions in a stronger way than we ever seem to realise. They are what fills our time, what numbs our pain and what holds our attention. This is the new world economy.

With all of these distractions connecting us to our screens in the most intimate of ways, it only becomes more and more difficult to stop and think. For many people, it isn’t until they sit down and try to focus on a singular task that the challenge becomes apparent. We are constantly multitasking, somehow convinced that if we do more, we will be taking advantage of the time better. Quality is often forgotten.

It pains me to think of how many people have lost the memory of hearing their neighbourhood birds chirp, of hearing the wind rustling through the trees overhead, of hearing the splatter of rain on the footpath. Instead, we seem to be on a mission to consume as much as we possibly can. Is it that we don’t want to waste a moment, or that we are fearful of the boring reality of the world?

It’s as if we are trying to drown out the world. We know that it will always be there, so we take it for granted. It’s as if we are trying to fill up a space. The content we consume isn’t necessarily useless. Music certainly has value. As do many podcasts. As do many videos. But are we really taking the value out of these pieces of content if we are simultaneously distracted doing something else, even as simple as walking through a neighbourhood?

The reason I am exploring this subject is because I am not convinced myself. I have for years been on the side of the so-called distracted. My arguments would be simple: so long as I was conscious about the content that I am consuming, it is simply a choice to replace one valuable thing (e.g. hearing birds chirp) with another (e.g. some educational podcast or piece of music). There is merit to this argument, but I am unsure just how conscious these decisions are in the general case.

For people working jobs they don’t particularly enjoy, there is certainly an element of pure escapism that comes with listening to music or podcasts all day. I should know. That was my life for a couple of years. But is this escapism necessarily a bad thing? Does escapism have value? It does, but I would say its value is only apparent when it is practiced consciously. Even this statement lays on shaky ground. It might have value in all cases – inherent value.

I should first define what I mean by unconscious and conscious escapism. By unconscious escapism, I mean escapism that is just routine and not much thought is put into the decision. Examples include listening to random music throughout your day at work and taking drugs to forget said shitty job routinely each weekend. By conscious escapism, I mean escapism that is thought through and considered. In this way, you might be using music, games, drugs or whatever else to ‘escape’ the world, but you have considered why you’re doing it. There is clearly a grey area there, but this is the general idea.

Escapism surely has value, but its value is more probable when it is practiced consciously. This is a statement that has a more solid basis in my mind. Escapism practiced unconsciously, as in listening to podcasts while doing a job you don’t particularly enjoy or routinely taking drugs throughout the weekend, can provide value. It can give people new perspectives; it can allow them to learn things and it can make the world a better place in that way. But this isn’t guaranteed or even probable in my opinion.

Escapism when practiced consciously, e.g. taking drugs with a particular purpose in mind or choosing music which might ‘transport’ you somewhere else, seems to have a higher likelihood of providing value. Conscious escapism almost sounds like a paradoxical and nonsensical phrase. If you are being conscious about your escapism, then is it really escapism? Isn’t the definition of escapism to somehow escape the conscious mind? That might be true, but I do think you can be conscious before and after the period of escapism. Therefore, you can make decisions about the purpose of how you are escaping and from what you are escaping.

Being conscious about escapism can provide huge value. You can alter your consciousness, be transported into a fantasy world through movie or novel, hear a song or an album that truly takes you to some place visual or experiential. This is valuable. It provides a way for artists to communicate ideas in a new way. This allows ideas that couldn’t otherwise be communicated to be communicated.

This allows truth to be told in a more concentrated form. It goes some way into solving the problem that all words and images are symbols, representations of reality rather than being reality itself. This is what is so magical about art.