Leopoldo Grosso, Alice in the land of stupefactions and dis-wonders. New youth refuges, between behavioral addictionand abuse of psychoactive substances

The new backgrounds of youth labours and disquiet not only show the achievement of behavioral addictions, whose commonest and most striking aspect is represented by pathological gamble and compulsive Internet abuse. They also show the change of psychoactive substances used, the change of their use, diversified combinations gain ground between new and old psychedelic products, illegal and legal. But what is even more surprising in the current contextualization of youth condition, especially in the minor area marked by grater difficulties and evolutionary “accidents”, are some existential choices and some lifestyles which result in  “spectacular” experience paths, which at the same time express desire to escape, rebellion will and difficult search for their own identity. The critical aspects of educational participation consist in the lack of a question, in the difficulty to identify an unexplicit suffering, in the scarcity of resources for the construction of attractive opportunities. 

Published on: Educating in the social N. 25 New Series – Year XIII 2017