Who needs real relationships when you could be spending that time with your OTP?
Being invested in the relationship of fictional characters is so wonderful. Much more wonderful than real people, don't you think? You can read beautiful stories about their adventures and you can cry when something happens. It doesn't even have to be a bad or a good thing, you could be crying simply because the way someone says a certain word.
You never have to fight, you never have to worry you're not good enough, you never have to get out of bed to go see them. Just pull out your phone and BAM you get your daily dose of love.
Heck, you can even make up stories about them. You can spend all day dreaming about them and dream a little more when you sleep. Why deal with real people when you have this much better option?
I've fallen in love with more fictional characters than real people, and wow it is such a great feeling. You could argue that they're not real, but holy heck they sure do feel real.
Shipping is the anti social person's love life, and nobody can take it away from them.