Hikikomori - Is it the individual's problem?

 https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/03/21/national/social-issues/japans-older-hikikomori-live-isolation-shunning-society-years/#.WrRj8maB3aY

The above is a very interesting article that I read in The Japan Times this week. It reminded me of a blog post that I wrote about 18 months ago.

In this post I talked about the hikikomori phenomenon in Japan. (Please click on the link to read the article.)

I'm sorry, my mind hasn't changed about what the problem is and it isn't the individual who has decided that they are going to spend their days locked away in their room. The problem is society and I'm not going to blame the individual at all.

We need to teach ourselves that it is OK to think differently to other people. We need to teach ourselves that it is OK to think outside of the box. We need to teach ourselves that those kind of people have minds that could quite well solve all of society's problems. Want a cure for cancer? It might well be in that mind that has locked themselves in the room because you decided that he should CONFORM?

What does conform mean anyway?

The dictionary on my computer says that Conform means to behave according to socially acceptable conventions or standards. Who decides what is socially acceptable? Who makes these rules and why can't we break them? Is it because it makes you feel uncomfortable? Does it make you feel inadequate? Stop beating the creativity out of people just because you can't understand it. Who gives you the right to do something like that?

Sure, hikikomori is a problem but how much is it costing the country? Probably a lot. A lot of moolah.

If you meet someone with far out ideas, embrace it. Ask questions. Query them. Praise them. Whatever you do, don't dismiss them because you could be dismissing them from society which is not great for anyone.