[crocodiletears]

They contribute to dearth of social participation, declining population, and I'd reckon are a net drain on the country's productivity.

They're symptomatic of something gone very wrong. Withdrawing from the world for a prolonged period shouldn't be so appealing that an entire social class develops around doing so.

Not to say I don't sympathize, ofc.

The problem does seem somewhat overstated though. Wikipedia says ~400,000 people in a population of 125 million.