I believe they're making an allusion to the commonality of loneliness among many of today's young men. Such loneliness is likely only to be exacerbated by habits that are enabled by this work.

Parasitical relationships are common enough I don’t think such spending represents mental illness anymore than other types of frivolous spending like buying action figures. Rather, people taking things to extremes is a general symptom of mental illness and shows up wherever that’s possible.

I know a Hoarder which may be coloring my perception, but underlying mental health issues show up in many different ways.