[jurassic]

Whenever I hear a bit about the hikikomori phenomenon in western news I'm always left wondering how they support themselves. Are these trust fund kids or something? If they're just living in mom's basement or whatever, that seems pretty selfish and pathetic. I guess this happens in the US also, but it's not something people talk about and we don't have a specific term for it.

[howstheweather]

It may seem selfish from the outside perspective, but there's always more than meets the eye: inability to cope with societal demands?, perhaps the internet has simply just given certain individuals greater capability to connect with ones own "special" interests/people?, hence the disinterest in the outside world: why bother with the "real-world", when all the things that you love about life itself are virtual?

Again, it's a peculiar mode of thinking if you aren't conditioned to it. If you've been the popular kid, smart, social, you've been handed most things to you, or people were always quick to help you, in whichever way. Some never had that.

And well, some just really like their alone time. And aren't we happy for the time that we live in, that such behavior is empowered for those people? If we disregard an active interest in the contribution of others to something, if X is happy, let's be happy for X.

[wickoff]

It's parents supporting them most of the time and the only expense is food. I think there is an implicit (and sometimes explicit) understanding that if pushed those people would just commit suicide, so the family is stuck in limbo forever. There is also a lot of shame involved on all sides, so getting outside help is problematic.

[ehnto]

We do, they're NEETs. "Not in Education, Employment, or Training".