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Hikikomori, or connecting in the digital age
In Japan, the phenomenon of total self-isolation has become so common that it now has a name: hikikomori. The international media report of an ‘epidemic’ and estimate the number of sufferers - typically men in their twenties - at 1.2 million. That’s 1 per cent of the population! Hikikomori refuse to leave their room, completely disconnect themselves from their environment and usually flee into the digital world, where they are masters of the universe. It seems that in the twenty-first century information overload has become physical reality for some.
Hikikomori could also be described as an extreme variant of what is known in the West as a ‘quarter-life crisis’, where individuals refuse to commit themselves to a specific goal amidst all the possibilities that a globalized world has to offer. We smoke pot and play videogames, Hikikomori play videogames. Quite often, they do so professionally, looking after our avatars while we -Westerners- reluctantly go to work. Japanese possess an honest and enviable attitude to work. They either do the work or they don’t. They either connect with each other by committing themselves to a common goal or they don’t.
In a world where individual achievement is the measure of all things and information bombards the senses, locking yourself in your room has become a legitimate strategy. Why not start a social life that you can erase, restart or sell to the highest bidder? Have hikikomori found a way of connecting in the digital age? Or is there no escaping the responsibility of physical interaction? In any case, you have to honor them for trying.
Perhaps we tend to view this phenomenon too negatively. In the past, people withdrew from society in search of spiritual enlightenment for essentially the same reasons as hikikomori kids. In many cultures hermits were revered. They were considered to have gained special insights as a result of removing themselves from the 'background noise' of ordinary life. Solitude is not necessarily a negative state. We tend to be judged by the level of our social success and the 'quality' of our social contacts and relationships. This arouses suspicion of those who quite deliberately opt out. I think the 'problem' of hikikomori in Japanese society would be partially solved by not viewing it as a problem, and not seeing hikikomori kids as being failures. For some people, solitude is as necessary as careers or relationships are to others. We should admire the fact that they have the courage to take a stand against the enormous social pressures to conform.
posted by patrickjered on 2/ 5/2008 8:44 am