Digital Hikikomori and Escapism into Digital Environments as a Factor of Liminal Experience

This study addresses the phenomenon of the hikikomori syndrome and escapism into digital environments. We examined the associations between digital escapism and identified supportive factors contributing to the liminal state between the real and digital worlds among digital hikikomori individuals. The case study captures, through in-depth interviews, the life situations of five hikikomori individuals aged 27–33 from selected countries: France, Russia, North America, Malaysia and Japan. The study covers the period from June 2025 to January 2026. Escapism into the digital environment is associated with the consumption of narrative digital content and digital games. Characters and avatars play a significant role in escapism. By identifying with characters and avatars, digital hikikomori reflect on their own life stories, exercise emotional self-regulation, and control their digital experience in a safe environment. Stressful life situations are the driving force behind the creation of a virtual identity. Through characters and avatars, digital hikikomori not only engage in self-reflection but also present their own identities, abilities, character traits, and personalities absent in the real world. They likewise substitute psychological and relational needs. Escapism into the digital environment, time investment in consuming narrative digital content, building a virtual identity, and progress in the digital environment that saturates self-assertion in the real environment are, in relation to the real environment, prerequisites for stagnation, procrastination, and liminal experience.