Escapism through esports might be leading to societal problems in the future

“All children, except one, grow up.”

So wrote J.M. Barrie about Peter Pan in 1911. At the time, it was interpreted as an expression of melancholic fantasy — that children are so innocent that we’d all be better off to remain in a state of blissful naivete rather than thicken our skin with adult fears, regrets and cynicism. Peter Pan, the perennial arsehole who simply refused to recognise any adult responsibilities, is simply a metaphorical idyll — a dream for anyone who fears age and the progressive march towards inevitable death.

We can’t revert time — that’s the simple truth, albeit one denied by numerous diet programs, clothing brands, social media filters, influencers and plastic surgeons. Beyond the physical wear and tear on our bodies, our minds are under increasing pressure as we stumble through an ever more hectic life in the digital era, so its perhaps not surprising that technology in the form of esports has become so stratospherically popular.

They offer new, ageless worlds into which you can escape and rejuvenate — pixelated havens within which people can be whatever they want to be.

That is, be whatever they aren’t in real life.