Post COVID? We're still seeing excess deaths, were still seeing long COVID absolutely wrecking lives, we're still totally unaware of the long term impacts of a COVID infection.
I don't blame anyone who is looking at that and saying, "I've built systems that are comfortable and work for me".
The article discusses several folks who want to go out, but find it challenging or difficult, people who are unhappy at home. By all means, invest in helping them, but don't say COVID is over. Even after the disease is endemic, there will be depression, anxiety, fear, and other lingering impacts. Emotional responses to a global pandemic aren't just things you can flip a switch on.
COVID and the general slowdown gave a lot of folks here the chance to breathe and think about what they want out of life and realize what a dead end many jobs and salaries
[0] here are... and that the hope for improvement seems vanishingly small, especially for anyone who is some kind of minority.
Seems like this might make for a cool video game. Play an isolated Japanese person and get points for things like going out for a walk in a park or to fetch sushi.
Cultural Variation in Past Hikikomori Experiences of University Students (2019) - DOI: 10.1080/00221325.2019.1633618
Percentages of participants reporting past experiences of Hikikomori -
Nigeria 20.90 %
Singapore 9.50 %
United States 2.70 %
You can disagree on a self reporting study, but Hikikomori will exist in the US, if you want to say it's insignificant to Japan you do need indicate what the rates are.
Yes, and I think it is mostly a case of using different labels. I have a relative who has been Hikikomori for over 10 years, but it gets called social anxiety and just one facet of the Asperger's and ADHD diagnosis.
I don't blame anyone who is looking at that and saying, "I've built systems that are comfortable and work for me".
The article discusses several folks who want to go out, but find it challenging or difficult, people who are unhappy at home. By all means, invest in helping them, but don't say COVID is over. Even after the disease is endemic, there will be depression, anxiety, fear, and other lingering impacts. Emotional responses to a global pandemic aren't just things you can flip a switch on.