Do virtual ao real : implicações da internet nos projetos de vida do adolescente

Abstract

The teenager is considered one of the main agents of social transformation, a wealth of expectations of the future, updating the family and those around them about what is happening in society. Currently, the youth goes through extremely speedy experiences: access to an almost inexhaustible amount of information and immediate contact, without demarcation of physical boundaries through the Internet. This feature not only revolutionized the different technologies, but also changed the social configuration in which we live, how we perceive the world how we are embedded in it, and, above all, our way of being. Given these changes, which occur in real time, the computer connected to the Internet has become for many a faithful companion of all hours, especially for teenagers who seem to use it as an indispensable resource for their contacts with others, with the world. The contemporary world has marks that are common to all subjects. However, the experience of adolescents in their transition into a world of extreme speed has been marked by uncertainty of future projects, fugacity, volatility, consumerism, among other issues that have hindered their entire process of maturity. Insecurity, characteristic of this time is further enhanced by helplessness, lack of references, lack of continence and the impossibility of creating projects for adult life. Life project here has a broader meaning, it concerns not only a professional dimension, but the inclusion of the subject in the universe of social and affective relationships with a view to implementing a vision for adult life. All this led us to investigate the possible effects of Internet use in the creation of projects of life of adolescents. To this end, we sought to reflect specifically on the following questions: What are the meanings of Internet use for teens? Are the teens surveyed concerned with creating life projects? It is possible to relate the use of the Internet to the development of their life projects? To realize this endeavor, we performed a theoretical study based on Winnicott s reference, especially the notions of transitionality, illusion, space potential and cultural experience. The participants were ten female adolescents, aged between 16 and 17 years, all students in public schools in the metropolitan area of Recife-PE, studying between the first and third year of high school. The collected data were analyzed with special emphasis on the participants self perception and the results showed that the Internet is an environment that can be used creatively, according to the demands of the subject. It also promotes a passage from virtual to real, to the extent that adolescents navigate in a world without borders, where they can play, create, rehearse for the future and see how it happens in real life