Opinions

Triggers for hikikomori and social isolation are often found to be a result of bullying, embarrassment and failure, all of which commonly occur in high schools across the world. Organizations such as Teaching Tolerance help avoid bullying and embarrassment by instituting programs such as "Mix It Up at Lunch Day" across many schools, especially in southern America. This organization works with children to encourage tolerance of those who are different than them. Hikikomoris and social isolationists often feel that they are not only excluded from society, but that society also looks down on them the more they stay away. This method of thinking  creates a vicious cycle of loss of self esteem and fear of society, as they individual begins to think that the outside world secretly despises him for being disconnected for so long and he perceives that they think of him as so insignificant that they don't even notice him. Programs like "Mix It Up at Lunch Day" encourage children at an early age to avoid behavior that could create this problem down the road, by making students sit with people they are unfamiliar with during lunch. This program presents a simple and effective solution to discrimination in schools, instead of other programs that reactively approach bullying and discrimination with punishment and support for the victims, this program proactively stops the problem before it does permanent damage to the victims. Damage which could trigger social isolation. More than just this program should be instituted in more schools, however. "Teaching Tolerance" aims to plant more of these kinds of programs to encourage more students to accept and respect each other, which is a key factor in containing the spread of social isolation. More problems than discrimination in high school can trigger social isolation, however. Therefore, problems such as failure and embarrassment should be addressed by school institutions. These problems are classically addressed by school counselors, but Teaching Tolerance also helps students struggling with grades and social skills by providing guidance for teachers hoping to follow their guidelines and having a free online resource for students to use.