I wrestle with this subject. On the one hand, I hate that I’m being manipulated by artificial constructs. But on the other hand, a lot of these are harmless and fun, and sometimes even useful. I mean, fiction stories are equally a waste of time, right? A good one manipulates your emotions, gives you something to latch onto, makes you read to the end, and is ultimately something you could have done without. You could…
Good stories have some meaning, or lesson in them, experience behind them, something they want to tell. "Manipulating" the emotions, making you read to the end etc are just ways to make the lesson easier to grasp. Play, as an activity, is useful to prepare for real situations, and similarly stories, I think, are helping so that you don't need to gather every experience first-hand. Of course there are many "junk stories where the lesson is not present, is outdated or downright harmful, but the stories, in general, are not time-wasters at all.