From cave paintings to epic poems engraved on ancient tablets, storytelling seems to have been central to human life for thousands of years, David Robson writes for BBC. Studies have shown that the average adult is thought to spend at least 6% of the waking day engrossed in fictional stories. So why do humans need stories this much? According to psychologists and literary theorists, potential benefits to this “fiction addiction” include the idea is that storytelling hones our minds and allows us to imagine different strategies, particularly in social situations.