Elsevier

Psychiatry Research

Volume 246, 30 December 2016, Pages 848-849
Psychiatry Research

New game software (Pokémon Go) may help youth with severe social withdrawal, hikikomori

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2016.10.038Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Pokémon Go is game software specially designed for smartphones.

  • A nationwide survey estimated that the total number of severe social withdrawal (hikikomori) in Japan is about 230,000 (Koyama et al., 2010, Psychiatry Res.).

  • Unlike other video games that keep players in front of monitors or motionless while holding portable game-players or otherwise shut in their own rooms, Pokémon Go forces its players to go out.

  • Thus, Pokémon Go may help youth with severe social withdrawal, hikikomori.

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