The uses of the digital by French and Japanese teenagers who are in social withdrawal (hikikomori) is explored through a study of biographical research interviews. Their uses are many: ludic, occupational, educational, socializing, even militant, if the digital becomes a counter-culture conducive to anonymity and freedom of expression. The digital seems to play an ambivalent role in the social withdrawal of these youngsters: it can help them to emerge from, or push them deeper into their withdrawal.

Adolescence, 2015, 33, 3, 547-558.