โA sense of defeat took over as negative thoughts began to creep in, wondering if I was a failure or an outcast in this society.โ
In 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic was in full swing, Mr. Yoo (30), who was a 24-year-old third-year college student at the time, dropped out of the university he was attending and became a so-called 'isolated young man.'
As all college lectures were moved online, I decided to drop out because I thought it was a waste of money to pay tuition, and from then on, seven years of isolation began.
Having a high school diploma and experiencing school violence and bullying during school made it more difficult for him to get a job and live in a group.
In an interview with Yonhap News on the 2nd, Mr. Yoo said, "When I felt very lethargic, I spent the whole day lying down," and "I didn't leave my room at all except to go to the bathroom."
I spent my days in my room playing games, watching YouTube, and occasionally studying.
It is said that living expenses were covered with pocket money given by his parents.
Mr. Yoo said that he has been preparing to find a job again since last year, but it is not easy as he has no experience and is in his 30s.
He said, "My parents are getting older and need to prepare for retirement, but I'm worried how long I'll have to depend on them to live. I feel guilty because I feel like I'm just a burden."
Isolated and reclusive young people usually confine themselves to a small room in their 20s when difficulties with career paths, employment, or conflicts due to interpersonal relationships begin to arise in earnest.
The likelihood of living a secluded life was found to increase the longer the period of job search.
Looking at the change in probability of seclusion by job search period shown in a study by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, the estimated probability of seclusion rose from 15.1% in the first month of job search to 24.1% in the 14th month, and to 50.2% in the 42nd month.
It was found that 3 out of 10 people who started seclusion continued their seclusion for more than 5 years.
As isolation continues, young people in their 20s enter their 30s with no experience, and become frustrated with the difficulty of finding employment as new employees due to their age, falling into a vicious cycle of isolation again.
Song Gyeong-jun, secretary of the Blue Whale Recovery Center, an organization that helps young people at risk of isolation recover, said, "There are many cases where people have graduated from college and accumulated enough qualifications but are unable to find a job, making it difficult to go out into society due to the long gap. Until 2020, young people coming to the center were mainly in their mid-20s, but as the number of cases of isolation being prolonged or re-isolation after getting a job is increasing, there are now a lot more people in their 30s."
He added, "As they get older, the support they receive from the government for young people decreases, and they sometimes become secluded again. Meanwhile, when their parents retire, the financial difficulties become extreme."
Park Jong-hoon (31), who lived in isolation and seclusion for 10 years since 2014, but recently works as an activist supporting reclusive youth, confessed to Yonhap News that he only attended college for the first semester of his first year and began living a secluded life due to memories of domestic violence that continued since childhood.
Living expenses were earned through short-term part-time work.
I worked part-time at a restaurant or PC room for about 3 months, earned about 1 million won, lived in seclusion, and when I ran out of money, I worked part-time again.
It is said that it was difficult to continue working part-time due to difficulties with interpersonal relationships.
Mr. Park said, "I went back to school at the age of 25 and graduated, but my social skills were poor and I was worried about interpersonal relationships at work, so I didn't try to get a job and only played games for about three years. I continued to live a life of isolation and seclusion until I was 29."
Mr. Park, who began contacting society again in 2023 by participating in a support program for isolated and reclusive youth, is now serving as an activist supporting young people with the same experience as himself.
He said that he had come across various cases of people going into long-term seclusion due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mr. Park said, โWhen I meet isolated young people, there are many cases where they started living in isolation during COVID-19,โ and โThere are also cases where they were kicked out of their jobs, their desired job disappeared, or it became difficult to build a career because they were unable to receive on-site training.โ
There are also young people who quit their jobs and become isolated in the process of changing jobs.
Mr. Choi, 38 years old, worked for 10 years, but quit the company two years ago to get a job at a public company and now lives at home.
I thought I would be able to get a job within a year if I focused and prepared, but it wasn't easy to pass the exam in a short period of time as I worked as a freelancer to make a living.
Mr. Choi said, โI was thinking about changing jobs because I was very busy with my previous job and I was afraid of whether I would be able to continue this job.โ He added, โFor half a year after leaving my job, I only went to my house and the library, rarely meeting people, and studied for certification to get a job at a public company, but I couldnโt just not work because of the fixed costs such as monthly rent.โ
He said, โI didnโt expect the re-employment period to be this long,โ and โEven though I donโt often feel lonely, I was worried that if something happened while I was living alone like this, no one would know.โ
Mr. Choi plans to drastically reduce his freelance work and focus more on studying for certification in order to find a job quickly.
Meanwhile, the development of artificial intelligence (AI) makes employment more difficult.
A young man who came to the recovery center said he hoped to get a job related to design, but his dream was frustrated as design using AI has recently become popular.
Young people who experienced long-term isolation said that the psychological and emotional support that helped them resolve their distrust of others and build their will during their isolation was a great help.
Activist Park Jong-hoon said, "The 'Happiness Factory' support program, where you tell your story with people you've never met before creating and performing a play based on it, was the most helpful in helping you escape from seclusion. Hearing similar stories gave me empathy and therapy."
Mr. Yoo and Mr. Choi also said that they were able to relieve loneliness and increase their will by participating with other young people in social skills training and cultural and artistic programs conducted by the Seoul Youth Development Center.
