Current Events > More US men are falling victim to Japan's anti-social hikikomori trend

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://nypost.com/2023/06/05/us-men-falling-victim-to-japans-anti-social-hikikomori-trend/

In Japan, an estimated 1.5 million people many of them young men now live in complete isolation. The problem has grown so severe that the Japanese have a term for it: Hikikomori, one who literally withdraws from society. Some 6,000 miles away, the United States is experiencing its own form of hikikomori. During a recent interview with Chris Williamson, a British podcaster based in Austin, Texas, the political economist Nicholas Eberstadt discussed the fact that 7 million men of prime working age are currently without employment and not seeking jobs. Many of these men, said Eberstadt, spend inordinate amounts of time indoors, totally withdrawn from society. They play video games, watch pornography and tend to engage in heavy drug use, according to the author of Men Without Work.

Work carried out by academics at Kyushu University in Japan has found that a low testosterone level is one of the common metabolic signatures of hikikomori in young social recluses which is important to note because testosterone levels among young American men are plummeting and have been for years. The drop now reportedly affects 1 in 4 men in the US. Men lacking testosterone are also at an increased risk of developing noticeably larger breasts, a condition known as gynecomastia. Research carried out last year by scientists at Emory University identified the ways in which testosterone influences the hypothalamus, the part of the brain responsible for the creation of oxytocin the so-called love hormone which also mediates the risk of social withdrawal and rises in tandem with testosterone.

Sex, drugs and video games

Behavioral sink, I believe is the term:

"Many [female rats] were unable to carry pregnancy to full term or to survive delivery of their litters if they did. An even greater number, after successfully giving birth, fell short in their maternal functions. Among the males the behavior disturbances ranged from sexual deviation to cannibalism and from frenetic overactivity to a pathological withdrawal from which individuals would emerge to eat, drink and move about only when other members of the community were asleep. The social organization of the animals showed equal disruption..."

I play video games ALOT.

I rarely watch pornography. I prefer soft-core yuri if anything else.

I don't do drugs, but I do like the scent of tobacco. Grew up around now-former smokers.

I want a job in making games, but I can't draw nor code nor make music. I do have many ideas for a game, so the creative aspect is not lacking. I do feel like an inspired artist who can't paint for the life of herself at times because of this.

BloodMoon7 posted...

Sex, drugs and video games

I dont think they are having sex if they not participating in society. There was an anime years ago called Welcome to the N.H.K. about someone like that.

Invest in free places to go out and have fun and more people will do it. If people weren't nickle and dimed whenever they went out it wouldn't be an issue. The west's late stage capitalism is showing. People want to go out.

And who is the blame? The system that created this situation? Nah, let's blame the people!

I mean, people don't like reading too much into that rat utopia study, but people are animals just the same even if they don't want to admit it. So the pattern of withdrawal makes sense, since the prior sense of purpose is erased in a late stage capitalist society that lacks a sense of community and instead fosters alienation.

I am like a diet version of it

I do go out but I only talk to non family for official ot business reasons. Like I might say 1 sentence to an employee of a store. Or I'll talk to a doctor.

The only reasons I go out are

Do something with my family
Go to a store
A doctor appointment
Going outside just to do an exercise walk

I don't casually talk to strangers and I don't know any friends to hang out with. When I am not doing the things listed above, I'm in my apartment

I only go out when I have no choice. The outside is ugly.

Where can I get paid enough without working to let video games, porn, and drugs consume my life.

"heavy drug use" seems like a bad idea. How about casual beer drinking and responsibly used prescription Xanax?

loafy013 posted...

Where can I get paid enough without working to let video games, porn, and drugs consume my life.

Rich parents/inheritance

DementedDurian posted...

I play video games ALOT.

I rarely watch pornography. I prefer soft-core yuri if anything else.

I don't do drugs, but I do like the scent of tobacco. Grew up around now-former smokers.

I want a job in making games, but I can't draw nor code nor make music. I do have many ideas for a game, so the creative aspect is not lacking. I do feel like an inspired artist who can't paint for the life of herself at times because of this.

Why not learn art or programming in that case?

They want these men to work more but for what? They have everything they could ever want already aside from maybe sex.

I love how most of us want that life even though it's being put down.
My life used to have video games more in the center of it until my Saturn started to crap out; but now, it's sex, drugs and (comic) books. My lady likes to go out, whereas i do not.
Well, i do like to go to the park and have a joint with a book, but that's because i don't have a yard/patio in my unit

When I was 17 this was my dream. Just cut myself off from the world rather than deal with the pain FOMO gave me in high school.

ah... shit... yea...

https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/new-york-post/
Bias Rating: RIGHT-CENTER
Factual Reporting: MIXED
Country: USA
Press Freedom Rank: MOSTLY FREE
Media Type: Newspaper
Traffic/Popularity: High Traffic
MBFC Credibility Rating: MEDIUM CREDIBILITY

DementedDurian posted...

I play video games ALOT.

I rarely watch pornography. I prefer soft-core yuri if anything else.

I don't do drugs, but I do like the scent of tobacco. Grew up around now-former smokers.

I want a job in making games, but I can't draw nor code nor make music. I do have many ideas for a game, so the creative aspect is not lacking. I do feel like an inspired artist who can't paint for the life of herself at times because of this.

Why not learn code?

You mean I can stay home all day and play vidya? Thats an option?

Dakimakura posted...

And who is the blame? The system that created this situation? Nah, let's blame the people!

You can't completely defer someone's behavior to the system. Personal responsibility is real, and important.

Returning_CEmen posted...

You mean I can stay home all day and play vidya? Thats an option?

You have to trade your dignity

Snakethief posted...

Invest in free places to go out and have fun and more people will do it.

Parks, but good luck being an ugly single dude in the park without someone thinking you're homeless or a pervert or both.

People want to go out.

Backyard fire pit is the best.

I would say I am one of them but then again I realize the problem isn't mainly with me but with the US, hell the entire world. Way too many crazy criminal people out there who aren't willing to reason and simply hate and wish the worst for you simply because their fragility and seeing equal rights as oppression. Can't have meaningful open dialogue with indoctrinated, mentally ill people.

Snakethief posted...

Invest in free places to go out and have fun and more people will do it. If people weren't nickle and dimed whenever they went out it wouldn't be an issue. The west's late stage capitalism is showing. People want to go out.

True. Almost everything really fun costs a arm a leg to do these days.

Anarchy_Juiblex posted...

You can't completely defer someone's behavior to the system. Personal responsibility is real, and important.

Problem is most of the time, people want to defer none of it to the system. Nothing exists in a vacuum, and a system will always have an effect on what's inside of it

Humble_Novice posted...

https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/new-york-post/
Bias Rating: RIGHT-CENTER
Factual Reporting: MIXED
Country: USA
Press Freedom Rank: MOSTLY FREE
Media Type: Newspaper
Traffic/Popularity: High Traffic
MBFC Credibility Rating: MEDIUM CREDIBILITY

Right? Just look at their sources. Tabloid website referencing fellow tabloids and podcasts as their primary sources or taking stuff out of context.

So this an op-ed? Is this an adjacent "people don't want to work" thing?

We need leadership that will raise the standards again