Media and adolescence

a psychoanalytic perspective on Generation I – (Internet)

Abstract

Puberty and adolescence is a very special time with regard to impulses, behavior and, mainly, susceptibility of the psychic apparatus as a stage specific for the appearance of psychological symptoms. This study was undertaken to study the factors that contribute nowadays to making said stage of life even more complex as a result of the strong influence of external elements such as media and computers and the impact of their use on young people’s lives. The effects of some components of the present time are analyzed in terms of their harmful aspect and as an attempt of the Ego’s adaptability to these pressures. In order to understand the modus operandi of the media, the study is based on the major apparently trivial culture-based myths which give rise to seemingly natural ideas and at the same time determine several attitudes that serve the interests of powerful groups and therefore weaken and/or debilitate the psychic apparatus. To elucidate it, this study presents the results of a brief survey of how adolescents live and look for tools to defend themselves from the demands of the modern world. A study of the works of scientists in the fields of Psychoanalysis, Philosophy, Neuropsychology, Biology, Neuroscience, Sociology and History of Art was also undertaken.