ABSTRACT
This chapter develops some reflections on the interface between the individual and society in terms of the repercussions of technological innovations on human development and on the practice of psychoanalysis. It describes some consequences of the frenetic lifestyle induced by the demands of the contemporary world, a world filled with quickly evolving and all-embracing communication technologies that reshape thinking and relating. Psychologists, sociologists, teachers, therapists, political scientists, all strive to identify the major trends of individual and societal transformations. On a clinical and pragmatic level, many authors have addressed the importance of intimate interactions for health and confirmed the relational substrate for human development. The preoccupation of psychoanalysts concerning the effects of the encounter between the needs of the individual and the requirements of society has a long history. Many psychoanalysts have expressed deep preoccupations concerning the effects of new technologies on their patients.
