Adolescentes na rede: riscos ou ritos de passagem?

Abstract

Adolescents are increasingly connected to social networks, especially with the appearance of mobile devices. The intense use of such devices has generated worry for parents, family and educators. Guided by psychoanalysis, we understand that adolescence is a logical time of subjective elaboration of “the real” of puberty, psychic work that requires the detachment of parental authority and insertion into the social environment. In traditional societies, the passage from childhood to adult life has established social markers, such as rites of passage, which help to include the young person in the community. In contemporary western societies, the rarefaction of symbolic references creates difficulties for that transition from the family space towards the general social group. Therefore, we intend in this article to undertake a theoretical discussion that relates the risks on the internet with the rites of passage in the logical time of adolescence. In support of this reflection, we used fragments of the Methodology of the Conversation with adolescents. We consider that, at present, the impasses of this operation of passage are expressed by the profusion of sacrificial acts that the youth presents, counting on the decisive role of the visibility provided by digital technologies.