--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: As a form of escapism, yearning for the…" description: "\"As a form of escapism, yearning for the 20th century is understandable, but in practice it would be horrible - sort of like going on a holiday promisin..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/29f/douglas-coupland-305_20th-century_as-a-form-of-escapism-yearning-for-the-2_1468057.jpg" --- # As a form of escapism, yearning for the 20th century is… ![“As a form of escapism, yearning for the 20th century is understandable, but in practice it would be horrible - sort of like going on a holiday promising yourself you could go without the Internet, only to crumble and walk in a daze to the local Internet cafe to gorge on connectivity.” quote by Douglas Coupland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/29f/douglas-coupland-305_20th-century_as-a-form-of-escapism-yearning-for-the-2_1468057.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/29f/douglas-coupland-305_20th-century_as-a-form-of-escapism-yearning-for-the-2_1468057.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/29f/douglas-coupland-305_20th-century_as-a-form-of-escapism-yearning-for-the-2_1468057.jpg) > “As a form of escapism, yearning for the 20th century is understandable, but in practice it would be horrible - sort of like going on a holiday promising yourself you could go without the Internet, only to crumble and walk in a daze to the local Internet cafe to gorge on connectivity.” [Douglas Coupland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-coupland/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Nostalgia for past eras can feel appealing but ignoring present realities leads to frustration and dependence on modern comforts. **In simple terms:** Longing for the past can be harmful if it ignores current needs. Key Takeaway Balance nostalgia with present engagement. Themes nostalgia technology modern life escapism Mood reflective contemplative Type philosophical observational When to use this quote - personal reflection - digital detox - travel planning - media consumption Key Concepts digital dependence social isolation historical romanticism Questions to Reflect On - How do you balance appreciation of history with present responsibilities? - What modern comforts would you miss if removed? A Different Perspective Idealizing the past may cause disappointment when reality differs. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [20th century](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/20th-century/) [Cafe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cafe/) [Century](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/century/) [Could](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/could/) [Crumble](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/crumble/) [Escapism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/escapism/) [Escapism Yearning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/escapism-yearning-5320537/) [Go](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/go/) [Going](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/going/) [Holiday](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/holiday/) [Horrible](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/horrible/) [Internet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/internet/) [Like](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/like/) [Local](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/local/) [Only](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/only/) [Practice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/practice/) [Promising](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/promising/) [Sort](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sort/) [Understandable](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/understandable/) [Walk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/walk/) [Without](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/without/) [Would](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/would/) [Yearning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/yearning/) [Yearning 20Th](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/yearning-20th-5320538/) [You](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/you/) [Yourself](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/yourself/) ## Related quotes > [I think cricket is there in Usain Bolt's blood. 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The main consideration is that whatever protection, rights and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-siegel/i-don-t-think-any-business-has-to-give-up-legal-protections-in-order/) [Alan Siegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-siegel/) > [When I came to this country in 1958, to be a dying patient in a medical hospital was a nightmare. You were put in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elisabeth-kubler-ross/when-i-came-to-this-country-in-1958-to-be-a-dying-patient-in-a/) [Elisabeth Kubler-Ross](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elisabeth-kubler-ross/) > [The Icesave matter is complex and it is understandable that the issue has been oversimplified by many. 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This policy was justifiable and understandable, even to those who came from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-webb/affirmative-action-was-designed-to-recognize-the-uniquely-difficult/) [Jim Webb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-webb/) > [When everything is perfectly orderly and understandable, there has to be one thing that puts everything into question.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annabelle-selldorf/when-everything-is-perfectly-orderly-and-understandable-there-has-to/) [Annabelle Selldorf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annabelle-selldorf/) ## More by Douglas Coupland > [And in your new lives you'll have to live entirely for that one sensation-that of imminent truth. 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You mean to tell me we can drive all the way here from L.A.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-coupland/negative-moi-i-think-realistic-might-be-a-better-word-you-mean-to/) [Douglas Coupland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-coupland/) > [It was pivotal in making you but you don't remember it. Or do you? Do we understand the events that make us who we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-coupland/it-was-pivotal-in-making-you-but-you-don-t-remember-it-or-do-you-do/) [Douglas Coupland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-coupland/) > [Your ability to rationalize your own bad deeds makes you believe that the whole world is as amoral as you are.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-coupland/your-ability-to-rationalize-your-own-bad-deeds-makes-you-believe-that/) [Douglas Coupland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-coupland/) > [“I like to go beach-combing, and I like to find interestingly shaped rocks. 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"This is so surreal," she says, "I think I'm turning into a melting clock.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-coupland/anna-louise-leans-over-and-whispers-in-my-ear-this-is-so-surreal-she/) [Douglas Coupland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-coupland/) > [When you grow up these days, you're told you're going to have four or five different careers during your lifetime. But what they don't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-coupland/when-you-grow-up-these-days-you-re-told-you-re-going-to-have-four-or/) [Douglas Coupland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-coupland/) [Explore all 704 Douglas Coupland quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-coupland/) ## More 20th century quotes > [I think the inhabitants of the past are fighting hard to keep the rents they acquired in the 20th century.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-bennet/i-think-the-inhabitants-of-the-past-are-fighting-hard-to-keep-the/) [Michael Bennet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-bennet/) > [Corporate America is a 20th-century dinosaur, trembling on the edge of extinction, and the only way for you to have a genuinely secure future…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-kiyosaki/corporate-america-is-a-20th-century-dinosaur-trembling-on-the-edge-of/) [Robert Kiyosaki](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-kiyosaki/) > [America thrived in the 20th century because we made high school free. We sent a generation to college. We cultivated the most educated workforce…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barack-obama/america-thrived-in-the-20th-century-because-we-made-high-school-free/) [Barack Obama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barack-obama/) > [The 20th century has been marked by cynicism, selfishness, greed, and the desire to please, all without changing the status quo. In the 21st…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/scar-arias/the-20th-century-has-been-marked-by-cynicism-selfishness-greed-and/) [Óscar Arias](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/scar-arias/) > [I've studied the lives of the 20th century's great businessmen and concluded self-confidence was instrumental in all their success.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alex-spanos/i-ve-studied-the-lives-of-the-20th-century-s-great-businessmen-and/) [Alex Spanos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alex-spanos/) > [Universal literacy was a 20th-century goal. Before then, reading and writing were skills largely confined to a small, highly educated class of professional people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hugh-mackay/universal-literacy-was-a-20th-century-goal-before-then-reading-and/) [Hugh Mackay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hugh-mackay/) > [The great wars of the 20th Century made it into the worst Century ever.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-ambrose/the-great-wars-of-the-20th-century-made-it-into-the-worst-century-ever/) [Stephen Ambrose](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-ambrose/) > [That is very different from how it used to be in the 20th century. Media was very one way. 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They…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elie-wiesel/i-think-this-century-more-than-any-other-really-has-seen-the/) [Elie Wiesel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elie-wiesel/) > [If you look at that incredible burst of fantastic characters that emerged in the late 19th century/early 20th century, you can see so many…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-moore/if-you-look-at-that-incredible-burst-of-fantastic-characters-that/) [Alan Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-moore/) > [Cruel and paradoxical though it undoubtedly is, the record shows that yje most succesful 20th century monarchs have been those who were not actually…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-cannadine/cruel-and-paradoxical-though-it-undoubtedly-is-the-record-shows-that/) [David Cannadine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-cannadine/) > [An interesting thing about New Zealand, you know, literature is that it really didn't begin in any real sense until the 20th century.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eleanor-catton/an-interesting-thing-about-new-zealand-you-know-literature-is-that-it/) [Eleanor Catton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eleanor-catton/) > [The Warmth of Other Suns is a sweeping and yet deeply personal tale of America's hidden 20th century history - the long and difficult…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-brokaw/the-warmth-of-other-suns-is-a-sweeping-and-yet-deeply-personal-tale/) [Tom Brokaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-brokaw/) [Browse all 672 20th century quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/20th-century/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "As a form of escapism, yearning for the 20th century is understandable, but in practice it would be horrible - sort of like going on a holiday promising yourself you could go without the Internet, only to crumble and walk in a daze to the local Internet cafe to gorge on connectivity.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Douglas Coupland" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-coupland/as-a-form-of-escapism-yearning-for-the-20th-century-is-understandable/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "20th century" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-coupland/as-a-form-of-escapism-yearning-for-the-20th-century-is-understandable/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/29f/douglas-coupland-305_20th-century_as-a-form-of-escapism-yearning-for-the-2_1468057.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/29f/douglas-coupland-305_20th-century_as-a-form-of-escapism-yearning-for-the-2_1468057.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/29f/douglas-coupland-305_20th-century_as-a-form-of-escapism-yearning-for-the-2_1468057.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“As a form of escapism, yearning for the 20th century is understandable, but in practice it would be horrible…” — Douglas Coupland", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Douglas Coupland", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-coupland/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "As a form of escapism, yearning...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-coupland/as-a-form-of-escapism-yearning-for-the-20th-century-is-understandable/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-coupland/as-a-form-of-escapism-yearning-for-the-20th-century-is-understandable/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```