@Messhy first off welcome and I'm glad you made it in.
Ask yourself why do humans like music? Why do most enjoy a good movie? Songs can be full of fantasy and most movies are pure fiction.
So why if we know going in that they are well to put it bluntly fake, do we enjoy them so? The mind is quite the interesting organ. It needs fact. It needs to know or be in the know you might say. If we don't have fact or understand it can actually drive us mad. We are constantly in search for things.
However that all said why do you dream? Dreams can be utter fiction and make zero sense. So why do we have them if they are not reality?
The bottom line is we all need shut down time. It simply isn't healthy to be full go all the time. Much like any machine if you run it non-stop and never let it cool down eventually it will break.
Personally I believe we are no different. Our brains need down time. So when we go to a movie and relax for a couple hours I actually believe that this is very healthy. That down time allows us to shut down a bit and let our mind rest.
So in this long winded way what I'm saying is read whatever you like. Is it possible for what we read to influence us, of course but to act as though the minute you read this or that it means x is in my mind fantasy in of itself.
I've long played first person shooter games. I love the strategy of it. I actually find it relaxing. Some will say oh there's blood on the screen or those sorts of games cause you to one day go postal and mow people down with an AR15, well I say that is utter horse pucky.
I have plenty of weapons There's not been a single second where I thought ya know I'll roll into the local Starbucks tomorrow and take target practice at everyone's caramel macchiatos...lol.
The point being we are all perfectly capable of disseminating between fiction and reality and in fact need both.
