NEET

About

“NEET” is an acronym standing for “Not in Education, Employment or Training,” which was originally coined in the United Kingdom as a classification for people between the ages of 16 and 24 who were unemployed and not in school. In Japan, the term is used to identify anyone between the ages of 15 and 34 who is unemployed, not in school and not seeking work, and is closely associated with social recluses known as “Hikikomori.”^[1] Online, the acronym is often used to label those who fit the “neckbeard” stereotype.

Origin

In July 1999, the phrase “Not in education, employment or training” was first used in a report titled “Bridging the Gap”^[2] released by the United Kingdom-based Social Exclusion Unit, which provided an investigation into young people who were unemployed and not in school.

Spread

On March 15th, 2005, Urban Dictionary^[5] user Rolf Mason submitted an entry for NEET, defining it as a sociological term “applicable to a social under-class lacking drive, motivation or ambition.” On March 26th, 2010, the Spill Media YouTube channel uploaded a video about NEETs living in the Swansea county of the United Kingdom (shown below).

On October 1st, 2012, an anonymous 4chan user submitted a “NEET lifestyle thread” to the /r/jp (otaku culture) board.^[4] On February 12th, 2014, YouTuber Bretty_Good uploaded a thread simulator video for 4chan’s /r9k/ (robot9000) board titled “4chan /r9k/ Frozen Thread Simulator, NEET Edition” (shown below).

On April 13th, Redditor Leonisius submitted a screenshot of a green text story on 4chan titled “Anon is genetically a NEET” to the /r/4chan^[6] subreddit, where it gathered upwards of 3,800 votes (95% upvoted) and 350 comments prior to being archived (shown below). On February 9th, 2015, Redditor Spacejams1 submitted a post titled “What is a NEET” to the /r/OutOfTheLoop^[3] subreddit.

Search Interest

External References