"South Koreans lock themselves up to escape prison of daily life"

This is simply too strange not to post it. While browsing articles on Pocket, I came across this weirdnesses. Apparently, people in South Korea pay to stay in jail cells as a way to escape from their harsh reality – if only temporarily. People usually break out of jail, certainly not in, but I guess it makes sense. South Korea has the highest number of suicides in the whole world. If this is what it takes to dispel those dark thoughts, then why not?!

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-southkorea-prisonstay-idUSKCN1NS0JB

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I’d heard about this… I can’t remember where, but the video then focused on people who’d actually stayed at Korean prisons in the past. Being in prison, with a strict set of rules, must be liberating for some people. And like you said… if it works, why not? As long as they aren’t putting themselves in danger, if it distressed them from Hell Joseon as they call it, go ahead…

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It’s a bit strange but if you look at Korean society where things like status and working overtime is kind of like the norm I understand people want to escape from it for a while and do this as prison life isn’t as stressful as keeping up all balls at home, at work and among your family/ friends.

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So there’s no bullying and raping in Korean prisons?

These are faux prisons, though, more like student flats, where people can briefly live a very modest life, unburdened by the problems of this world.

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That was not what I was saying. Of course those things happen in prison as well. But I don’t think it will happen in a fake prison as everyone wants to escape from everyday life and it’s struggles for a short while. Maybe this is kind of like a temple stay kind of thing where people can relax.

Ah, a fake prison. Stupid of me. I thought the state allowed them into real prisons, and it seemed very strange that it would allow this practice!

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Awww… Don’t beat yourself up. It’s all my fault for not explaining it. Please forgive me. Yes, it’s not the real thing. No way would they allow such a thing. It’s just that the Koreans are under so much pressure to follow the strict standards of their society instead of just living freely… :weary::weary::weary:

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hikikomori

This is not the same but similar, in a way.

I think in Europe, especially when it is about young/er people, most parents wouldn’t just let their kids be at their own.It is more likely that they would give their kids into hospital for therapy instead of letting them lock themselves at home and continue paying for them. When it is about unemployed adults, they must go to civil bureau to get money for living (rent, food etc.) so it’s also not possible to just stay at home (in most cases).

In one article I read about Japan’s Hikikomori was written that there is a mix of “shame” asking for help as a parent combined with the acceptance how one wants to live while here in Europe it would be more ashaming to let the own kids this way without asking for help (faster).

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Yes, they would, even in those advanced Northern European countries. I’m sure you’ve seen rows of children and teenagers on the street, just staring down at their phone like zombies. At home, they do the same.

VIKI is bugged today, it generates multiple posts while using reply option and when deleting one it removes all…

Don’t want to rewrite everything again so in short:

Talking about [quote=“adrianmorales, post:10, topic:21500”]
advanced Northern European countries
[/quote]

compared to Japanese gives a strange note of discrimination and implies Japan isn’t a high tech industrial nation.

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You mentioned Europe, didn’t you, so I limited my post to the European Community, which is divided into advanced countries and less advanced ones. I should know, I live here.

I have nothing against Japan and its people. I even studied Japanese in school.
おはようございます。 お元気ですか。ϞϞ(๑⚈ ․̫ ⚈๑)∩

I see what you mean now about different live style within Europe.

I posted the English wikipedia link because the articles I read about that phenomenon in Japan aren’t written in English.

The focus was on a local & culture based basis that caused this kind of phenomenon there while we don’t have it in the same way here. That’s why your comment about kids on the streets is the same is incorrect. It’s throwing different topics in one pot. The smartphone zombies you mentioned are more like today’s mobile & internet addictives what isn’t a local phenomenon but more a technic based one for industrial countries. There are plenty of discussions about this topic in our media and it did not only touches kids or teens but also adults. Way worse than teenagers that stand together in groups listening to music via smartphones are parents (mostly mothers since they stay at home while fathers go to work) that are so busy with their smartphones that they don’t even look at their babys anymore. The young kids could even lose their favourite plushy on the street and the mother doesn’t realize it. Same during shops like supermarkets when little kids get a smartphone to play with so they keep quiet instead of talking with the kid and e.g. explain what one needs to buy for cooking dinner.

That these kids will get damaged in social interactions and that the consequences for further generations and our society can’t be fully captured yet is also a topic that is frequently in our media.

This kind of behaviour is still different than the Hikikomori one that lock themselves in their room/flats since the articles said they avoid most or sometimes all social interactions. Nowhere was written they lock themselves for being online 24/7. It was often mentioned that they spend their time with books/reading, music/instruments…

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Oh, thank you for the info! Umm… It’s a personal opinion, of course, but I still believe it’s a general, world-wide issue. Even if you see them on the street or in a park, their lives still revolve around their phone. They never see the outside world, so they might as well be locked in. Also, it’s not like these “hikikomori” stare at a wall all day long. They go online. They have YouTube and Facebook and Twitter accounts. Zombies come in different shapes, after all, but they’re still zombies. Before I moved to my grandmother’s place, I used to be just like them. I never left the house unless it was for work, and my online life was my entire life. The commonality, however, is that this phenomenon only affects children and young people.
The elderly want to live and enjoy life, and thanks to modern medicine and better living conditions, they can.

But maybe there’s hope for us problematic introverts still:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9IRmUEsz6g

That’s not true. The isolation of older people is often much higher, also because they don’t have the chance to stay in touch via internet. What was written in the articles about young Japanese (they later added new statistics saying there are also more 40+ involved than they originally thought) is something we have here for elders. Including people who die in their own flat and no one’s realizing it for months. One of the Hikikomori of the photo reportage died 6 month later at age 43. His family found him after ~3 months…
Also, in the articles they didn’t mention that they are online citizens if they were it wouldn’t be called as Japanese phenomenon. Then they would have written about “Asians digital addictives” who lock themselves to avoid the outer world for living online.

We have a quite high suicide rate of elders here, so no. Also often a very bad life quality for elders called poverty among the elderly.

It’s an illusion to think only young people are affected by social isolation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGwQ74cH5O0

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If it’s alright to ask, where do you live? I genuinely think that we are worlds apart. I live in a place where the elderly cram the streets and public transportation, which is why I always preferred to walk or not go out at all. Since then, I’ve moved away from the city. All my respect to them, even if they despise young people and treat them like dirt.

Old data from 2015:

[quote]10 000/year people died by suicide, 45% of them were age 60+

Age 60+ is 27% of whole population.

Suicide rate of male age 80+ 5x higher than average’s population rate.

60 out of 100 000, average 12 out of 100 000/year dead by suicide[/quote]

We also have around ~ 1 million children that live in a so-called children’s poverty.

You can find bad aspects in any place around the world.

The articles about Japan I was reffering to were mostly focused on social-cultural-aspects and circumstances and how that influences the people and their behaviour in different ways in a certain amount and why we don’t have this (phenomenon) in that particular way. Economy wise Japan and we are similar.

Since you originally posted something about South Korea I thought it may be interesting, because it is both times about people that feel the need to lock themselves.

I didn’t post it to start a fight over who’s country or personal life circumstances are worst since the worst for a person is always that what a person must bear by her/himself.

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Oh, I’m terribly sorry if I seemed harsh. I definitely didn’t want to upset you. Of course, you are most welcome to reply on this post or any other post.
Thank you so much for the detailed information! It’s such a shame that people end up doing this. I think we humans just need to treat each other better than we currently do, like in general.
Once again, I apologise for upsetting you. Have a pleasant weekend!

PS: Since we’re on Viki, are you currently watching any dramas?

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