The Loneliness Lens: Exploring IRIS Hues in Japan – Ikigai, Rental Human Services, Isolation, Suicide and Social Robots

Description

Page: 452-455

Shreya Bakshi (Amity Institute of Behavioural Health and Allied Sciences (AIB(H)AS; AUUP), New Delhi)

‘Ikigai’ or ‘well-being through purposeful living’ has recently gained attention. It has been associated with improved quality of life, especially among the elderly. In status quo, well-being is obstructed by fatalities, changing demographics, wars, and the pandemic. These global crises have resulted in isolation, aggravating loneliness among humans. In the Japanese context, extreme states of isolation also appear as Hikikomori. To combat the same, both human and non-human therapeutic interventions are being utilized. Among these, social robots are the most recent intervention. Though resourceful in enhancing Ikigai, these developments can also create a psychosocial burden, posing a threat to well-being. This critical review reflects on the recent invention of social robots as an antidote to isolation and loneliness, also, as a catalyst of Ikiagi. The reflective critique is attempted from a critical and constructivist lens. From renting human services to the advancement of social robots, humans have adopted myriad ways of satisfying their need to belong. Extant means to accomplish the same include psychotherapy and altruistic practices. Futuristic developments are promulgating well-being by supplementing and substituting the aforementioned. However, what aims at enhancing well-being is potentially disrupting it. Ikigai promotes well-being by balancing human experiences. The inception of social robots is thus an ontological tautology as the attempt to curb this existential given by technological appendages is likely to aggravate it further.