It appears that Hikikomori has hit the United States shores as well. The Japanese term is used to denote someone who has withdrawn from society.
According to British podcaster Chris Williamson who is based in Austin, Texas, in a discussion with political economist Nicholas Eberstadt, seven million people of prime working age are currently without employment and not seeking jobs. These men also spend too much time indoors and are not sociable at all.
Eberstadt said that these men play video games, watch pornography and tend to engage in heavy drug use, he said in a New York Post report.
The Hikikomori Trend
According to a Kyushu University survey in Japan low testosterone levels is one of the common metabolic signatures of Hikikomori in young social recluses – which is important to note because testosterone levels are plummeting among young American men.
In another report in Intelligencer, researcher Alan Teo says that Hikikomori is becoming prevalent in the United States. The American version of people who are not studying, working or training and have simply withdrawn from the world choosing to live in isolation.
“We have a large number of people [in the United States] in their early 20s living the basement bedroom. Often times it is younger men. Struggling with work. Struggling with launching. There is some element of still being stuck in an earlier developmental stage, like that of an adolescent, even though their physical age is that of an adult,” said Teo.
Interestingly there is some evidence to show that video games account for somewhere between 23 and 46 percent of the decrease in young men’s participation in the labour force. In general people who suffer from Hikikomori are extremely detached from everyday life. Social interaction is a burden be it at school or work. Though they may be able to manage simple day to day activities like a grocery run or they will rarely want to socialise or do anything more than that.
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