Identity, relationships, and onlife practices: a qualitative analysis of italian adolescents’ experiences

Abstract

This study explores how Italian adolescents construct identity and relationships through social media, adopting a qualitative approach based on focus groups and written narratives. The findings highlight four main dimensions: (1) the onlife experience, which continuously integrates online and offline contexts; (2) identity construction as a performative and negotiated process, grounded in practices of selfpresentation and social comparison; (3) the emotional ambivalence of digital experience, oscillating between expressivity, refugeseeking, overload, and dependency; and (4) the centrality of social recognition and peer belonging. The analysis also reveals tensions, vulnerabilities, and attempts at self-regulation, alongside the crucial role of families and schools as mediating contexts. The study contributes to a deeper understanding of social media as sociosymbolic infrastructures of adolescence and suggests directions for future research, particularly in relation to emerging scenarios shaped by artificial intelligence.