I really do wish we could have a better discussion about this - not this thread, or even this submission, but in general.

It's interesting how gaming addiction is on the fast track for a formal disorder diagnosis (https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/internet-gaming, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5700715/). When I look at Candy Crush - just to pick on one - and other "gamified" (ie optimized for addiction) cases they seem to have a lot more negatives, particularly for groups with still-developing prefrontal cortexes. I really worry about the developmental impact of modern gaming and social media. I have increasingly seen kids that are just not well attached to reality in ways that are detrimental to them, going on several years now.

It feels bad to pick on escapism when the world is such a mess, but, just like the similarly increasing drug problems (particularly in opiates) it is only making the situation worse.