Why does celebrity gossip or mindless media relax me

So with the news that A$AP Rocky got Rihanna pregnant I went on a YouTube deep dive into their relationship and other recent harmless celebrity gossip. And I came out of it feeling better and more relaxed than any therapy session.

Something about it felt freeing in a way, like I was suddenly unshackled from being an real adult with responsibilities and bills and all of a sudden I am reading about rumors that Leonardo Di Caprio only has sex with headphones on or that a famous celebrity couple is secretly in an open relationship with a european prince.

This happens every year with Love Island the TV series and Apex Legends the video game, my friends always ask me why I watch it and play my ps4 for so long and I just realized that it reduces my anxiety to just be uncoupled from the real world and be in a world of fantasy even if that fantasy is grounded in our own reality like the celebrity stuff. 

I know people would say these things rot your brain but I think sometimes our brains basic things to just relax.

I don't know how to explain what i mean but essentially reading, doing yoga, exercising, engaging in hobbies etc does help me relax but it still feels too "adulty" or "grown up". There is something about just being truly mindless for a few hours that helps.

Do any of you feel this way? Or understand why I may be like this?

5 Comments
 

It makes perfect sense. It's an escape from all the tediousness of your day to day life and something to just let your mind run on auto-pilot. I'm sure you think it feels too grown up because being grown up usually coincides with responsibility. And thinking of celebrity gossip is anything but grown up or peddling responsibility. Just like trickling hours into some MMO is also a very "childish" thing to do, because you could just do that instead of having to deal with in your face responsibilities. 

So long as you don't let your desire for escapism lead you to trying to escape from the bottom of a bottle or something else that destructive.

The poster formerly known as theAudiophile. Just turned up to 11, like the stereo.
 

I do the same thing with Fox News. Although I know exactly what they’re going to say, they do it in this glib, artful way that’s so perfectly devoid of nuance. And all of a sudden, my personal failures are nothing compared to what the radical left has done to America.

 
Most Helpful

Absolutely nothing wrong with video games, mindless gossip, binging Netflix - did this the other day(s) with Ozark. Fantastic show. Did absolutely nothing productive for a few hours. Summer house is another one - awful, awful show - but it's mindless. 

No one should feel bad about it - there's this idea that you have to hustle, be constantly productive or otherwise you are just wasting away. Hardly. If you are otherwise 90% productive they can shove off. 

The issue is when you trap yourself in this stuff - either it's an emotional crutch, a comfort zone that starts taking time away from things you know you want to do, or you start using it to procrastinate or 'escape' your actual life because you are too afraid, sad or paralyzed to change it. That's an issue. 

 

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