NPR interview on "Hikikomori," Japan's socially withdrawn youth
I was interviewed by National Public Radio for their excellent segment on extreme social withdrawal in Japan (called "Hikikomori") now airing across the US and online here . Extreme social withdrawal was first diagnosed in Japan in the late 1990s and I wrote about it most recently in this Op-Ed essay for The New York Times . The pathology is now spreading worldwide, with Hikikomori cases spiking in other regions of Asia, the Americas and Europe. Digital dependency is identified as both a symptom and cause of self-isolation. I shudder to imagine the coming impact of AI distractions like ChatGPT as they become increasingly advanced and accessible--especially to those whose IRL interactions have already been diminished by the pandemic years. In 1985, Neil Postman wrote a groundbreaking book called "Amusing Ourselves to Death." And all he was talking about was television.