Hikikomori In S’pore And Why Young People Are ‘Imprisoning’ Themselves In Their Rooms
“Secretly, I was ashamed of how I was living. I couldn’t even go out or face relatives during Chinese New Year because I [think that they would] think of me as a leech, a parasite.”
Having been made fun of in school for her background and the way she spoke, Andrea* started becoming wary of people. She kept them at arm’s length and although that prevented her from forming any close friendships, it was to protect herself. At least, that was how it began.
“I developed a paranoia that people would laugh at or pity my pathetic lack of friends.”
As she grew out of adolescence, this fear of social situations manifested into an extreme level of social isolation.
Can you imagine yourself being cooped up at home for months on end? Never heading out for lunch with friends, not going to work or school and just idling away in bed?
For people like Andrea, that’s their life as hikikomori.
WHAT’S HIKIKOMORI?
For the uninitiated, hikikomori is a term used to describe those who rarely leave their house, and seek extreme degrees of isolation. Some never set foot outside their homes. Others occasionally do, heading out to buy food or even to the cinemas for the latest blockbuster, but all of them are completely, socially isolated. They would even limit their interaction with their own family members.
Although this social phenomenon is predominantly widespread in Japan, I recently stumbled upon a Reddit thread that tells me that we too, have our share of social recluses hidden in their rooms somewhere, unseen by society.
Through a local forum, I stumbled upon Andrea’s story.
Back then, Andrea cooped herself up at home for eight consecutive months. Waking up at five every morning, she spends her time browsing Reddit, reading and binging on TV series, only leaving her room for lunch and dinner, which her parents would prepare for her. At around 11 pm, she will head to bed and the same routine repeats for months, and in those months, she did not step out of her house once.
"Her home had become a place of solace for her, a fortress she can’t bear to leave."
Likewise, this is the case for the many hikikomori in Singapore, who have taken to forums to pour the feelings that they have hidden away from their friends and family.
Full article at
https://www.domainofexperts.com/2019/03/hikikomori-in-spore-and-why-young.html
