what to visit in Malaga

We all have our favourite escapes, pastimes and fantasies to flee the nightmares that sometimes plague us. Some choose literature, drugs, sports, music or nature and some prefer TV or computer screens. For the last 5 years, my 25 year old cousin has chosen to live in a virtual world, which seems to afford him more satisfaction than stepping out and dealing with complex human relationships… though in his videogames, he’s brave enough to even kill.

Better said, he plays for his life when he plays such games as World of Warcraft, StarCraft or Counter Strike, even though he never leaves the chair. Nothing interests him except for staying all day long in his room surrounded by cables and headphones and gadgets, plugged in like a hospital patient stuck in bed and nourished by a toxic IV drip. Even though it’s been years since we’ve seen each other, he prefers to shut himself in the dark, and forget about his talents as a chef or other adventures he could have.

On one hand I understand, the world of videogames is a fictional realm that allows us to take risks without assuming responsibility for the consequences. You have superpowers that you don’t have in reality, or create worlds which are more perfect and fair than the real world. I can imagine that this sense of power and security is very pleasurable for some people, and I don’t mean to sound like an armchair psychologist, but it seems to me that that being addicted to this type of media is an obvious symptom of malaise which warps one’s sense of perception of reality in such a way that the patient is no longer able to appreciate a sun ray or a romantic date. But there is a limit, don’t you think?

On the other hand, I understand that these are personal choices, and you can’t decide for anyone else, especially when they don’t listen or understand that they are damaging their health and personal relationships. Mi cousin has turned into a bored, depressed person who can’t imagine moving out of his parent’s house and barely knows how to talk to a girl. He hardly leaves the house, but not because he’s a tortured artist stuck in his ivory tower laboriously expressing his passions in a worthwhile masterwork. These games, and the attitudes they encourage, are destructive.

Unfortunately, my cousin Fabien is yet another victim to what seems to be an ever-expanding social trend. The countries with the most net-addicts are South Korea, China and Japan, where they have even begun to open treatment centres for hikikomori, a word in Japanese which refers to people who withdraw from all real social contact, often replacing it with technology addiction. Our machines are like nature, and are capable of conquering humanity as if we were just an ant farm.

All this being said, I like to think that humanity will never be conquered, even though our behaviours may shift or change, and that while these changes may be fascinating sometimes, its important to keep fighting, and make sure to seek help when we need it. I’m sure if I were to give him free trip to sunny Malaga, he wouldn’t be able to resist the temptation, especially if I reserve his lodging with Apartments in Malaga. I hope he wakes up to smell the Jasmine!