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That's true until people are suddenly hungry odr thirsty. Hunger or thrist will force them to act. And not necesserily nicely.

Exactly, mindless distraction is only an option when you are comfortable. Try not eating for a day + turning off your heating/cooling and see how interesting Twitter is then.

Mindless distraction is exactly what you turn to when your efforts to better your life become too monumental to bear: lifespans shorten because destitution drives people to apathy or an open desire for suicide.

Sounds like we're talking about two different things.

Both movies and cheap novels have historicaly been popular during wartime.

I can’t even go and browse message boards as a distraction any more, sigh.