Let’s be honest; is there anyone here who hasn’t spend thousands of hours in front of a television, curled up in a corner with a good book or behind a gaming pc? Many of us consume movies, games, books, and other forms of fiction like crazy.

And although that behavior is sometimes frowned upon, consuming fiction can have a lot of positive effects. I’m not saying you should live your life through your screen, but a healthy dose of fantasy will definitely do you no harm. On the contrary! So let’s take a look at the Value of Fiction:

It’s an escape from reality

Sometimes life just isn’t easy. Sometimes you’re simply bored with your day. Sometimes your teacher or boss was a total c*nt and you want to slash them with a sword but you can’t, because you don’t have a sword and you would go to jail since you’re not Geralt of Rivia.

Whatever the case, you need to take a break. What’s better than grabbing your favorite book or binge-watching that new Netflix series? Exactly, nothing.

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Fiction (that is; good fiction) can completely absorb your thoughts and filter out any negativity. You don’t have to be concerned with your problems, you don’t have to contemplate whether those dishes really need washing, you don’t have to think about anything else when you’re in another world. Instead, you’re concerned whether Frodo will throw that ring into the lava of Mount Doom.

We all need to feel entertained, problem-free, and excited from time to time. Fiction can help us reach that point like no other medium (it’s basically like a drug if you look at it this way — so don’t tell your mother you read books).

Fiction teaches us

So… does it have any other uses besides being entertaining and keeping us off our work?

Yes it does!

We can learn a lot from fiction. For example; if you have giant eagles to fly you to that volcano, use them. Or if your whole future and life depend on whether you accurately killed a teenage-boy, go check if he’s really dead yourself instead of letting someone else do it. Especially when he’s laying knocked-out right in front of you (I mean, that was ten meters or so? How many feet is that? I don’t know, but it’s not that long a walk. Voldemort could’ve checked himself and the nazi-wizarding occupation would have been a thing).

Okay, what else? How about a Game of Thrones lesson? ‘Don’t trust Littlefinger when Littlefinger tells you not to trust him.’ Oh and also, be a true fan-favorite and you will never get killed. Or at least not permanently.

We also learned that it’s not a bright idea to send hot knights to fetch your bride (King Arthur, looking at you!), that you should try to avoid being born as Zeus’ bastard child, and that you can NEVER, and then I mean NEVER, trust a woman (just read the Arabian Nights).

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Good lessons right? Seriously though, fiction can teach us things. Such as what really matters in life. The importance of being good, and loyal and loving (and other stuff for wimps). So go grab a book and learn.

It brightens reality

This is the most important reason. Yes, we like to escape to a different world where things are more beautiful, more exciting, and not quite as deadly for us as they would be in real life, but we cannot escape forever. Unless you don’t mind being homeless and starving, you cannot live your life in a fantasy.

Fortunately, fiction is not only meant to leave the real world behind. The real power of fiction is in brightening reality, not destroying our lives.

Let’s face it: your real life would be endlessly duller (I’ll stop offending your life now, I’m sorry) without fiction. Thanks to fiction, you can live as many lives as you want and do all kinds of stuff inside your mind that you otherwise cannot experience.

Thanks to movies, games, and books, you get the best of both worlds. You get the relative safety of a normal, real life, plus the exciting and dangerous adventures of a fictional one. In that way, fiction brightens your reality.

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So there you have it. Three reasons, gained by in-depth academic research, demonstrating the value of fiction. I basically gave you an excuse to watch Netflix all day. You’re welcome!