Hidden youth? A new perspective on the sociality of young people ‘withdrawn’ in the bedroom in a digital age

Wong, Mark

doi:10.1177/1461444820912530

Cited by 24 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 50 publications

(41 reference statements)

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“…Previous research has indicated that online gaming can provide important spaces where young people find a sense of belonging, solidarity and connectedness (Crawford et al, 2011;Quandt & Kröger, 2013;Wong, 2020). Our data suggest that the importance and sociality of gaming intensified during the COVID-19 lockdown.…”

Section: Maintaining and Creating Sociability Beyond The Homesupporting

confidence: 52%

Playing Apart Together: Young People’s Online Gaming During the COVID-19 Lockdown

Bengtsson

Bom

Fynbo

2021

YOUNG

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The COVID-19 pandemic caused countries around the world to initiate societal lockdowns, especially during the spring of 2020. This article focuses on online gaming’s role in young people’s lives during the lockdown in Denmark. Informed by a practice theoretical framework, the analyses of 35 interviews with young people (16–19 years) examine how gaming proved to be something to do in a situation of nothing to do. The analyses find that the young people’s gaming practices were beneficial (a) in allowing the young people to maintain a social life and (b) in providing a legitimate social space for maintaining friendships and/or coping with boredom. The findings demonstrate that young people who engage with online gaming are capable of adapting to fundamental changes to society to fulfil their social needs and aspirations, including during a pandemic.

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Section: Maintaining and Creating Sociability Beyond The Homesupporting

confidence: 52%

Playing Apart Together: Young People’s Online Gaming During the COVID-19 Lockdown

Bengtsson

Bom

Fynbo

2021

YOUNG

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“…Although hikikomori was described in Japan much before the digital revolution of the 2000s, the internet, social media, and web-based gaming have radically changed the way people interact [ 11 ]. This may be particularly relevant among individuals with hikikomori, a hidden population that might be spending a considerable amount of time on the internet for entertainment and social interaction [ 12 ]. Indeed, the relationships among internet use, video gaming, social media use, and hikikomori have been studied in Japan [ 13 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Examining Tweet Content and Engagement of Users With Tweets About Hikikomori in Japanese: Mixed Methods Study of Social Withdrawal

Pereira-Sánchez¹,

Álvarez-Mon²,

Horinouchi³

et al. 2022

J Med Internet Res

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Background Hikikomori is a form of severe social withdrawal that is particularly prevalent in Japan. Social media posts offer insight into public perceptions of mental health conditions and may also inform strategies to identify, engage, and support hard-to-reach patient populations such as individuals affected by hikikomori. Objective In this study, we seek to identify the types of content on Twitter related to hikikomori in the Japanese language and to assess Twitter users’ engagement with that content. Methods We conducted a mixed methods analysis of a random sample of 4940 Japanese tweets from February to August 2018 using a hashtag (#hikikomori). Qualitative content analysis included examination of the text of each tweet, development of a codebook, and categorization of tweets into relevant codes. For quantitative analysis (n=4859 tweets), we used bivariate and multivariate logistic regression models, adjusted for multiple comparisons, and estimated the predicted probabilities of tweets receiving engagement (likes or retweets). Results Our content analysis identified 9 codes relevant to tweets about hikikomori: personal anecdotes, social support, marketing, advice, stigma, educational opportunities, refuge (ibasho), employment opportunities, and medicine and science. Tweets about personal anecdotes were the most common (present in 2747/4859, 56.53% of the tweets), followed by social support (902/4859, 18.56%) and marketing (624/4859, 12.84%). In the adjusted models, tweets coded as stigma had a lower predicted probability of likes (−33 percentage points, 95% CI −42 to −23 percentage points; P<.001) and retweets (−11 percentage points, 95% CI −18 to −4 percentage points; P<.001), personal anecdotes had a lower predicted probability of retweets (−8 percentage points, 95% CI −14 to −3 percentage points; P=.002), marketing had a lower predicted probability of likes (−13 percentage points, 95% CI −21 to −6 percentage points; P<.001), and social support had a higher predicted probability of retweets (+15 percentage points, 95% CI 6-24 percentage points; P=.001), compared with all tweets without each of these codes. Conclusions Japanese tweets about hikikomori reflect a unique array of topics, many of which have not been identified in prior research and vary in their likelihood of receiving engagement. Tweets often contain personal stories of hikikomori, suggesting the potential to identify individuals with hikikomori through Twitter.

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“…In agreement with official reports [12] -even though we were able to extract geographic location or area from only few redditors -60% of them complain about living in rural areas. As many traditional [5,12,15] and novel [21,38] studies have shown, our analysis reveals that 43% of redditors either declare themselves to be suffering from health issues (depression and anxiety mainly) or post content on health-related subreddits. The Mental Health topic extracted by the topic modeling analysis is discussed by 74% of users.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 71%

“…Closer to the NEET case, recently Facebook data has been used to get a better understanding of Italian NEETs by tracking their digital behavior and comparing it with employed people [37]. Other works highlighted the importance of online communities for the NEETs, as they help them to stay connected while struggling with problems related to mental health and social anxiety [21,38]. Reddit, in particular, has served as a venue and resource for those affected by mental health issues.…”

Section: Social Media and Vulnerable Groupsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Complementing Studies on Vulnerable Youths with Reddit Data

Mauri¹,

Psyllidis

Bozzon

et al. 2021

CHItaly 2021: 14th Biannual Conference of the Italian SIGCHI Chapter

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Social web data increasingly complement studies of various social phenomena, especially when the availability of traditional data is limited. One such case is that of vulnerable young populations that are disengaged from employment, education, or training; usually referred to as NEETs. This paper explores the extent to which social media data and discussion websites could complement conventional sources in the study of NEETs. We focus on user-generated content posted to the dedicated r/NEET subreddit, which gathers subscribers who self-identify as NEETs. We develop and implement a data processing pipeline for the analysis of the behavioral patterns and main concerns of this social group. Our analysis of Reddit data reaches similar conclusions to official reports from governmental institutions in Europe. The paper also provides insights into healthrelated issues and latent interests of NEETs, not recorded in official reports and related literature. CCS CONCEPTS• Human-centered computing → Ethnographic studies; • Information systems → Social networks.

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Hidden youth? A new perspective on the sociality of young people ‘withdrawn’ in the bedroom in a digital age

Cited by 24 publications

References 50 publications

Playing Apart Together: Young People’s Online Gaming During the COVID-19 Lockdown

Playing Apart Together: Young People’s Online Gaming During the COVID-19 Lockdown

Examining Tweet Content and Engagement of Users With Tweets About Hikikomori in Japanese: Mixed Methods Study of Social Withdrawal

Complementing Studies on Vulnerable Youths with Reddit Data

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