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anonymous
2019 Feb 7, 5:52pm
Social isolation is often blamed on technology, but could it be part of the solution?
in Japan half a million people live as modern-day hermits. They are known as hikikomori – recluses who withdraw from all social contact and often don’t leave their houses for years at a time. A government survey found roughly 541,000 (1.57% of the population) but many experts believe the total is much higher as it can take years before they seek help.
The condition was initially thought to be unique to Japan, but in recent years cases have appeared across the world. In neighbouring South Korea, a 2005 analysis estimated there were 33,000 socially withdrawn adolescents (0.3% of the population) and in Hong Kong a 2014 survey pegged the figure at 1.9%. It’s not just in Asia, cases are appearing in the US, Spain, Italy, France and elsewhere.
Whether due to increased awareness or a growing problem remains unclear, but concern around social isolation is on the rise globally. Last January the UK appointed its first minister for loneliness and recent Office of National Statistics data found nearly 10% of 16 to 24-year-olds reported feeling "always or often" lonely.
A controversial but common theme in hikikomori research is the isolating influence of modern technology. Any potential links are far from settled, but there’s concern Japan’s lost generation could be a canary in the coal mine for our increasingly disconnected societies. At the same time there’s hope technology could help bring people back from the brink.
The term hikikomori, often used interchangeably for the condition and its sufferers, was coined by Japanese psychologist Tamaki Saitō in his 1998 book Social Withdrawal – Adolescence Without End. Today the most common criteria is a combination of physical isolation, social avoidance and psychological distress that lasts six months or longer.
The condition was originally considered “culture-bound” and there are reasons to think Japanese society is particularly vulnerable, says Takahiro Kato, an associate professor of psychiatry at Kyushu University in Fukuoka, who both studies and treats hikikomori.
“In Japanese there’s a very famous saying, ‘A protruding nail will be hammered down’,” says Kato. Only half-jokingly, the 6ft 2in doctor adds that’s why he walks around with a slight hunch so he’s not seen as arrogant. Rigid social norms, high expectations from parents and a culture of shame make Japanese society a fertile breeding ground for feelings of inadequacy and a desire to keep one’s head below the parapet, Kato says.
After quitting his job in 2015, Tomoki, 29, tells me he was determined to get back into work and regularly visited the job centre. He also attended a religious group almost daily, but the group’s leader started publicly criticising his attitude and inability to get back into work. When he stopped attending the leader called him several times a week and the pressure, combined with that from his family, eventually caused him to withdraw completely. (The names of all hikikomori have been changed to protect their identity.)
“I blamed myself,” he said. “I didn't want to see anyone, I didn't want to go outside.”
School is a monoculture, everyone has to have the same opinion. If someone says something they're out of the group - Ichika
At Fukuoka city’s hikikomori support centre the Yokayoka Room – “take it easy” room in the local dialect – one by one the group describes the pressure they felt to conform. “School is a monoculture, everyone has to have the same opinion,” says one of the visitors, Haru, 34. “If someone says something they're out of the group.”
Living up to the expectations of Japanese society has also got harder. Economic stagnation and globalisation is bringing Japan’s collectivist and hierarchical traditions into conflict with a more individualistic and competitive Western worldview, says Kato. And while British parents might give short shrift to a child refusing to leave their room, Japanese parents feel a strong obligation to support children no matter what and shame often prevents them from seeking help, says Kato.
But the increasing number of cases outside Japan is leading people to question the culture-bound nature of the condition. In a 2015 study, Kato and collaborators in the US, South Korea and India found cases matching the clinical criteria in all four countries.
Full article with pictures: Longer Read - http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20190129-the-plight-of-japans-modern-hermits
in Japan half a million people live as modern-day hermits. They are known as hikikomori – recluses who withdraw from all social contact and often don’t leave their houses for years at a time. A government survey found roughly 541,000 (1.57% of the population) but many experts believe the total is much higher as it can take years before they seek help.
The condition was initially thought to be unique to Japan, but in recent years cases have appeared across the world. In neighbouring South Korea, a 2005 analysis estimated there were 33,000 socially withdrawn adolescents (0.3% of the population) and in Hong Kong a 2014 survey pegged the figure at 1.9%. It’s not just in Asia, cases are appearing in the US, Spain, Italy, France and elsewhere.
Whether due to increased awareness or a growing problem remains unclear, but concern around social isolation is on the rise globally. Last January the UK appointed its first minister for loneliness and recent Office of National Statistics data found nearly 10% of 16 to 24-year-olds reported feeling "always or often" lonely.
A controversial but common theme in hikikomori research is the isolating influence of modern technology. Any potential links are far from settled, but there’s concern Japan’s lost generation could be a canary in the coal mine for our increasingly disconnected societies. At the same time there’s hope technology could help bring people back from the brink.
The term hikikomori, often used interchangeably for the condition and its sufferers, was coined by Japanese psychologist Tamaki Saitō in his 1998 book Social Withdrawal – Adolescence Without End. Today the most common criteria is a combination of physical isolation, social avoidance and psychological distress that lasts six months or longer.
The condition was originally considered “culture-bound” and there are reasons to think Japanese society is particularly vulnerable, says Takahiro Kato, an associate professor of psychiatry at Kyushu University in Fukuoka, who both studies and treats hikikomori.
“In Japanese there’s a very famous saying, ‘A protruding nail will be hammered down’,” says Kato. Only half-jokingly, the 6ft 2in doctor adds that’s why he walks around with a slight hunch so he’s not seen as arrogant. Rigid social norms, high expectations from parents and a culture of shame make Japanese society a fertile breeding ground for feelings of inadequacy and a desire to keep one’s head below the parapet, Kato says.
After quitting his job in 2015, Tomoki, 29, tells me he was determined to get back into work and regularly visited the job centre. He also attended a religious group almost daily, but the group’s leader started publicly criticising his attitude and inability to get back into work. When he stopped attending the leader called him several times a week and the pressure, combined with that from his family, eventually caused him to withdraw completely. (The names of all hikikomori have been changed to protect their identity.)
“I blamed myself,” he said. “I didn't want to see anyone, I didn't want to go outside.”
School is a monoculture, everyone has to have the same opinion. If someone says something they're out of the group - Ichika
At Fukuoka city’s hikikomori support centre the Yokayoka Room – “take it easy” room in the local dialect – one by one the group describes the pressure they felt to conform. “School is a monoculture, everyone has to have the same opinion,” says one of the visitors, Haru, 34. “If someone says something they're out of the group.”
Living up to the expectations of Japanese society has also got harder. Economic stagnation and globalisation is bringing Japan’s collectivist and hierarchical traditions into conflict with a more individualistic and competitive Western worldview, says Kato. And while British parents might give short shrift to a child refusing to leave their room, Japanese parents feel a strong obligation to support children no matter what and shame often prevents them from seeking help, says Kato.
But the increasing number of cases outside Japan is leading people to question the culture-bound nature of the condition. In a 2015 study, Kato and collaborators in the US, South Korea and India found cases matching the clinical criteria in all four countries.
Full article with pictures: Longer Read - http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20190129-the-plight-of-japans-modern-hermits
3
Tenpoundbass
2019 Feb 8, 7:08am
Tenpoundbass
2019 Feb 8, 7:08am
I don't think loneliness is the culprit, but depression is.
There are people who are quite content to be hermits. They live to be old while doing so.
There are people who are quite content to be hermits. They live to be old while doing so.
The Silent Killer
Things went downhill for Tomoki, a 29-year-old Japanese man, after he quit his job in 2015.
He went to a job center to find new work. He also attended a religious group to stay focused. But the group's leader criticized him publicly for failing to locate employment. Eventually, Tomoki withdrew from the group and then from society in general, joining the ranks of the “hikikomori,” or modern-day hermits who remain in their houses, sometimes for years at a time.
“I blamed myself,” Tomoki, who asked to be identified by a pseudonym, said in an interview with the BBC. “I didn't want to see anyone, I didn't want to go outside.”
At first blush, hikikomori might seem unique to Japan, where birth rates sank to a record low recently – suggesting some kind of a lack of intimacy – and where a hyper-technological economy and strict culture of shame put enormous pressure on people to succeed.
But concerns about social isolation are being raised globally.
Last year, British Prime Minister Teresa May appointed a minister for loneliness after a government report found that many of her constituents were sad and isolated.
“For far too many people, loneliness is the sad reality of modern life,” May said at the time. She wanted to help “people who have no one to talk to or share their thoughts and experiences with.”
Recently, a British group launched Chatty Bus, a program that sends volunteers onto public transit to spark spontaneous conversations with folks, reported the Brighton & Hove Independent, a local newspaper. Londoners started a “loneliness café” to bring people together.
Researchers in South Korea and Hong Kong, as well as the US, France, Italy, Spain and elsewhere, have documented a spike in loneliness. Simon Fraser University found that 20 percent of Canadians experienced loneliness, especially people older than 80 who have lost a spouse, wrote the Canadian Jewish News.
The US Senate held hearings on the issue in 2017. Former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy has raised alarms about an epidemic of loneliness.
It's no surprise that social media might be playing a role. University of Pittsburgh scientists found that positive experiences online afforded little sense of community while negative experiences hurt. Working too much doesn't help either, several researchers noted in the Conversation.
The phenomenon has costs. Loneliness is as lethal as smoking 15 cigarettes a day, reported Inc. magazine.
Taking a page from Aldous Huxley, author of the dystopian novel “Brave New World,” American scientists are working on a pill to combat the problem, according to a Medium story reprinted in the Guardian.
Pharmaceuticals might be a solution. Saying hello to a stranger might work better.
W