After school, adolescents are on the net. Social networks, Facebook in particular, take up a large part of their virtual life. The virtual world seems to be a true platform for the playing out of adolescent games and issues. In this article, we see Facebook partly as a theater of self, a stage in itself and for the self. Talking about Facebook as a stage where the adolescent exposes himself presupposes that there is a show to see, and we may ask ourselves if this is not a showing of the adolescent moment, of the projection of certain fantasies, inner scenes that we are permitted to see through the window of Facebook. Using the case of Elisa, we will discuss the way in which Facebook can become the adolescent’s own place, an interface where adolescent fear recedes and a place for identification with peers.
Adolescence, 2013, T. 31, n°2, pp. 471-481.