I think there are just so many layers at which we as a society are failing at, and it's forcing so many people to become "invisible". You read stories about th

I think there are just so many layers at which we as a society are failing at, and it's forcing so many people to become "invisible". You read stories about these recluses, and it's not a far fetch from most of us. Sure, some of them are suffering from severe disorders or are unmedicated, but for a lot of them they want to be part of society but feel stuck. Can't get minimum wage jobs because they have no work experience, no references. Can't go back to school because no money. Can't continue their social life because they feel such deep levels of guilt for having to live with their family. So much of our social systems are based not on prevention and providing as much help throughout to reduce risk, but rather to wait until things get so bad it's near impossible to get out. Our health system works like this. Our school system works like this (bullying being dismissed was a big reoccurrence when I was reading these articles on hikikomori). Don't even get me started on the online layers of failure, so many platforms are places where miserable people congregate and encourage others to become as miserable. They convince each other the "sky is falling, give up now". 4chan is an example of such a place, you don't believe some of the extreme absurdities keeping you from reintegrating on there unless you've already started to isolate yourself (again part of the above failure of our social systems not letting people get help early), and those miserable folks take advantage of this. Layer after layer of massive failures. I hope you can invite your friends over to your family's house, alongside their family and have a big social feast even if the feast is just whatever is filling and affordable. We should be pulling each other closer, providing more support and empathy, not pulling away.