Roleplaying vs Soaps

Recently, I was discussing forms of escapism with my father, and during the course of the discussions, we both agreed that soaps and roleplaying games are forms of escapism. Then my father surprised me by saying that he thought that roleplaying games were actually less dangerous as a form of escapism than soaps. He gave me his reasoning, which seemed sound.

What I'd like you to do, gentle readers, is comment with your own opinions, if you have any on the subject, and your reasoning.

Later, I'll put my father's reasoning on here for comparison...