Redes sociais, solidão e psicanálise: uma revisão bibliográfica

Abstract

Called by many the evil of the 21st century: Loneliness haunts young people, adults, and the elderly, whether they are always accompanied by several people or live alone. However, the proliferation of electronic devices such as smartphones, tablets, and notebooks, as well as the multiplication of social networks and their functions, has increasingly attracted the attention of those who see in digital socialization a way to reduce this feeling. However, the distancing from reality (the outside world and society) and the incessant search for recognition of the other on the Internet and digital media can disappoint those who want to banish loneliness from their lives. This article aims to investigate, through a bibliographical review of works with the theoretical contribution of psychoanalysis (Freud-Lacan), whether the use of social networks can, on the contrary, increase the sense of loneliness of their users. The analysis of the articles shows that social networks have the potential to both alleviate and increase the feeling of anxiety and loneliness. When exposed to on the networks, many people attemp to alleviate their structural helplessness by acknowledging the stares of the others, which causes them to revert to their childhood narcissism. However, the competition for the attention and desire of others motivated by the capitalist discourse of the networks, leads to the alienation of the subject from his desire, in exchange for entertainment whose main objective is to make him a voracious and dissatisfied consumer. It follows that the use of social networks has an ambivalent quality: While the subject finds in them refuge and relief from the sufferings imposed on him by the outside world and society, their use also causes anxiety and, consequently, loneliness, as he is unable to buffer his structural helplessness or overcome the inherent lack of desire.