Adding to consumerist attachment, these days stories are also used as an escapism tool. From a fatalistic point of view, you can lose yourself in a movie for a little while, binge a series, read a book and be somewhere totally different than where you are. You can believe that for a while if the story is good enough.

There’s also the appeal of “living vicariously” through a story. I tend to enjoy stories with more focus on characters and their development, and inevitably get invested in them from the simple connection of being human. I can see the ugly side of myself within flawed characters, I can learn lessons from the mistakes of others, I can take comfort in certain emotional developments and despair in others. Stories provide a safe place to explore different points of view, ideas, emotions, and events, especially ones people don’t talk about day to day or ones that are darker than your every day life.