Hikikomori
Sunday mornings are almost set in stone for me. Wake up at around 10 am, turn on Chris Matthews (don’t really pay attention to it) and then watch Meet the Press while drinking coffee and reading the NYTimes Magazine.
This morning, a relevant article came to my eyes and I forwarded it to everyone I knew. What did I deem so newsworthy? Hikikomori(free subscription required to read article). It’s a disorder that Japanese youth are currently facing where they literally shut themselves inside of their rooms, with TV, the Internet, music players, and whatever else they need - without evergoing outside - sometimes for as long as a decade!
The article goes to speculate and discuss with psychiatrists how this disorder develops, but I started thinking, here I am, living in New York City, one of the largest cities in the world and yet I hardly go out. I go out on weekends and I go to and from work, and I also travel every night to the city. Ok, so maybe not me, but I know others who will much rather stay inside and in their rooms than go out. I know it has not come to the extent where people lock themselves in their rooms mostly, but more and more, the kids in our country can just as easily be susceptible to this type of behavior. A majority of people experiencing Hikikomori are male, almost 80%, and one of the reasons as to why they isolate themselves are the great responsibilities that are pushed onto their gender as providers. Men in the United States usually have nothing to worry about because for the most part - women are just as essential parts of our society as men in an economic sense.
Anyway, it freaked me out and made me re-think my behavior and attitude. I noticed that as I became more active in typing out my thoughts rather than speaking them to people. The more my e-mailing increased with time, the less sophisticated my interpersonal conversation got with people whom I interacted with in person.
Sorry if I have freaked you, but you too will be experiencing if not complete, at least minor retardation of your social skills as a direct result of your intimate knowledge of the world through new technology. And that’s something worth thinking about on a Sunday morning.
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Dhaval,
I too live in the City, but spend an alarming amount of time at home. Some of this is weather-related this weekend (what a storm last night, eh?) But often times it is a lack of things to do which do not require megabucks. Not in the mood for museums? Don’t want to prop up capitalism with another shopping spree? Too cold to enjoy Central Park?
If you don’t have friends living in town (and I don’t,) than you either hoard your valuable downtime at home doing something you enjoy, or you take the risk of going out.
For me, winter tends towards the staying in approach, while warmer weather prods me outdoors. So if this is true for you, fear not, it’s entirely normal.
As far as losing touch despite more connectivity than ever, some time ago, I stumbled across an article regarding the correspondence habits of Einstein. The relevant point: To some, Einstein would communicate frequently and immediately. To others, months or years could elapse between letters. I imagine you’d find this true of everyone, and it probably has more to do with human nature and our ability to cope with limited empathy rather than sensory overload.
The vast majority of my friends - for years - are wired up in one IM client or another, and at the very least accessible by e-mail. In theory, I can correspond with any of them with a few clicks of the mouse, yet I don’t. Why? I don’t have anything to say to them. You can only ask “how are you doing?” so many times. If they have something to share, they will.
So it’s entirely normal. Perhaps Blogs are the convenient (lazy?) answer to our solitude. Post what you feel is worthy, let them come on their own, and comment if they have something to share in return. Doesn’t necessarily imply the intimacy of friendship, but what would you rather have?
Bill (looking for free stuff to do in the City that doesn’t involve law enforcement action.)
Well Bill, the article in the NY Times mainly talks about teens who feel that their lives are lost cases because they will never live up to the rest of their peers. It’s a huge psychological disorder they face - they feel they’re incompetent and rather than being compared with those around them - they’d just not be seen, so no one will have a chance to point at them and say “hey, that kid’s a freak”.
Anyway, I agree with you wholeheartedly on the whole going out without having to spend money. It seems to me that everything and everything worth while now requires money, but recently, one of the greatest posts I’ve read on Metblogs put forth a few links to free stuff: http://nyc.metblogs.com/archives/2006/01/batting_not_qui.phtml
And I think there need to be more locations - other than movie theaters, malls, and 5th avenue and a cold unwelcoming Central Park - where people can interact without the pressure of spending money. I just haven’t found it yet and I don’t know anyone or any company who would invest in such a venture because there obviously would be no money earned through it.
But it’s just as difficult to meet new people in NYC as any other place. It’s a social problem.
Anyway, my point of bringing this topic into light was that I think now we, as a society, have become what Wall St. likes to call “chipmunking” You go to a Starbucks and everyone is working or typing into their laptops/blackberrys/cell phones and not really paying attention to each other or communicating with each other other than for business-purposes or to have monetary exchange of goods.
I don’t know. I’m going in all types of directions here. But the topic lends itself to this.
Completely off topic - “Believer” by Christina Milian is actually a really good song. I didn’t even know she existed as an artist, but here she’s playing on my iTunes and damn it’s sweet.
Thanks for the response. It was interesting.
They report hikikomori as a disorder? That’s very eh, American.. I’ve never thought of it as such. A decade is a bit extreme but if it is that long, then I guess it’s a disorder.
Yuki - if not a disorder - then what? Please explain. The topic seems very interesting to me. But if those bastards at the NY Times sensationalized it, I’d like to know.
I did write “I guess it’s a disorder” “if it went for 10 years” - but you’d also call someone a hikikomori for say, if they didn’t go out of the house for three days writing papers (me). The way they took it to explain, a “disorder,” is very American because disorders are very popular over there. Working out, diets, health, counselors, Dr. Phil.. everything there is about being “normal” and “healthy” it’s just very funny.