Fiction certainly can have that downside.

But good fiction is also one of the most effective ways--apart from deep listening--of training empathy because it lets you step into someone's inner life. Rarely do we get a chance to see the world through someone else's eyes for long stretches.

If you're not an immigrant, you can vicariously live the life of one through fiction and see what they have to deal with.

If you're not a news reporter or a cop or a tycoon during the Great Depression, you can tag along with one through fiction.

The point of reading fiction isn't about content, but how they change you as a person.