Fantasy Reality

“I’m obsessed with DVR. Sometimes I find myself trying to fast forward meetings at work,” my friend Sonya said as she stretched out her arm, mimicking the click of a remote control, “Boring. Boring. Boring.” I laughed long and hard, as she spoke for me as well. I, however, feel a little less pain than Sonya, seeing as I do not actually have DVR yet. As I discussed in my blog post about “Life On Command,” I find man’s ability to stop time—at least what’s on cable—a bit eerie. There are a lot of pop culture tools with which people can skew their perception of life: DVR, so-far-from “reality” TV, video games, facebook, myspace. These are all platforms in which the world, time, and people can tweak with facts. Are facts facts anymore? Only time will tell—well, unless we fast-forward through it.

This brings me to another subset of pop culture where we play make believe: Fantasy sports. Yesterday, I participated in my first fantasy football draft. I used ESPN’s Live Draft program where a dozen girls all timidly and nervously picked players to represent us as the football season begins. The chat room, a neat feature of the program, was riddled with apprehensive confessions: “What are we doing?” “I don’t get it.” “I don’t know how to pick! How can I get auto draft going?” Suddenly, the draft started, and somehow, and we were on our way—whether we were ready or not. “Ah! I’m so stressed right now!” I typed. In the true spirit of good-natured girls, Team J-To said, “It’s okay. We’re all a bit lost and you’re first pick was good!!!” All’s fair in love and fantasy football, at least in an all female league. Soon, the chat room was filled with modest admissions: “My boyfriends helping me, thank god!” “Oh me too! “Haha my dad is over my shoulder.” The draft concluded, and we all wait anxiously to see how our teams will fair.

Fantasy Football, while not exactly DVR, is another way for us to deflect the cold hard truth of life. Now, even though I will root for the Giants with all my heart, I can justify a loss to the Vikings, since Adrian Peterson is my RB, or even the benighted Cowboys, as Tony Romo is my QB. (Forgive me!!!) In a roundabout way, Fantasy sports serve as some sort of fast forward button. Where DVR makes commercials go away, Fantasy sports makes fan heartbreak go away—at least some of it. It’s kind of like a glorified schoolyard game, where we can once again pick a team of our liking, leaving the particularly uncoordinated or dubious athletes near the tail end of our pick—kind of like Favre, who was one of the last to be picked as a QB.

At a certain point, I worry about society’s overwhelming urge towards escapism, or at least Fantasy sports escapism. Reality Football isn’t good enough? Did you miss last year’s NFL playoffs? The Giant’s streak was a fairytale. Who needs make believe leagues when Eli Manning helps facilitate an underdog win practically in glass slippers (or, rather, glass cleats)? Then again, perhaps Patriots fans would argue that last years season—at least the final game—was an absolute nightmare, which would require coping with a fantasy world….

My real worry is how modern day escapism entails an overwhelming amount of staring at a screen—computer, television, movies, cell phones, iPhones, iPods, etc. No longer is it about flying a kite or strolling with a parasol. How about letting the mind wander? How about books? The typical workday involves staring at a computer screen—with stolen glances at my cell phone screen—before I go home and stare at my TV screen. Half of every day spent at some sort of glowing rectangle. I suppose living vicariously through athletes who can avoid staring at screen’s all day is one step closer to playing flag football as a form of escapism. At this point, of course, there’s little I can change about the role of the computer in the work world. Maybe I’ll try to institute a “no screen” policy after work… except for Mondays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays. You saw my Gossip Girl post; do you really expect me to give up my shows?!?

Perhaps Sonya really was hoping to get work to go by faster. I just worry that society’s escapism ends up taking up more of our time than actual living. I guess I should get DVR, so if I really do try to go out and live a little I won’t miss anything. Oh wait, that's the whole point.