If you describe an activity or type of entertainment as escapism, you mean that it makes people think about pleasant things instead of the uninteresting or unpleasant aspects of their life. Horoscopes are merely harmless escapism from an ever-bleaker world. activities or entertainment that help you forget about bad or boring things for a short time
an inclination to retreat from unpleasant realities through diversion or fantasy; "romantic novels were her escape from the stress of daily life"; "his alcohol problem was a form of escapism"