‘Call me Teacher’, recording of the webinar with Matteo Lancini now online
What does it mean today to be a teacher in a hyper-connected society, marked by emotional fragility, new forms of loneliness and pervasive technologies?
This question is the starting point for the webinar ‘Call me teacher’, with Matteo Lancini, psychologist, psychotherapist and president of the Minotauro Foundation, promoted by the Fondazione Mondo Digitale and now available in recording open to teachers and educators [go to the webinar on the FMD Academy].
Lancini's talk (18 December) was neither a technical lesson nor an operational guide on the use of technology in schools. Rather, it was a powerful “stimulus document”: a critical and passionate reflection on the role of adults and schools in the lives of the younger generation.
From transgression to post-narcissism: how adolescence has changed
Lancini described the evolution of adolescence through three major historical phases: from the era of transgression and conflict with authority, to that of disillusionment, marked by shame and discomfort directed at oneself, to the current era of post-narcissism, characterised by the fragility of adults and widespread individualism. In this scenario, young people's discomfort no longer manifests itself in protest, but in withdrawal, disappearance and abandonment. It is a silent suffering that directly challenges the adult world.
The fragility of adults and the “broken promise”
One of the most incisive passages concerns the responsibility of adults. According to Lancini, today parents and institutions claim to want to listen to young people, but often implicitly ask them not to feel uncomfortable emotions, such as fear, anger or sadness, so as not to upset the balance of the adults themselves. This creates a void of meaning and identity: young people who grow up adapting to the needs of others, instead of being guided to recognise their own.
A school made for adults, not for children?
His criticism of the Italian school system is clear-cut but motivated by a deep attachment to the institution. Lancini talks about a school that has often become a “social shock absorber for adults”, more concerned with reassuring parents and public opinion than responding to the real needs of students. Numerical grades, failures, fragmentation of disciplines and transmissive teaching risk undermining the authority of teachers and fuelling dispersion and disaffection. The danger, Lancini warns, is that of a “symbolic closure” of schools, similar to what has happened in the past to other institutions perceived as places where people felt “too bad”.
Digital, AI and onlife society: stop using technology as a scapegoat
The webinar decisively dismantles the idea that smartphones, social media or artificial intelligence are the cause of youth malaise. Technology, says Lancini, is often a “conscience cleaner” for adults, who prefer to blame the tools rather than question the society they have built.
We live in an “onlife” society, where the real and the virtual are intertwined. Banning smartphones in schools without an educational plan is an act divorced from reality. The challenge, if anything, is to teach young people to ask the right questions, even with AI, and to make sense of a complex world.
Defending school through relationships
Despite the criticism, Lancini strongly asserts that school must be defended “to the end”. Because, for a teenager, there is no worse place to be than at school. The solution is neither technical nor regulatory, but deeply relational: authentic adults who are capable of legitimising emotions, taking on educational responsibilities and building alliances with students and families. In this sense, Lancini's provocation is not destructive, but generative: an urgent invitation to rethink the role of the teacher as a significant adult figure, a guide, capable of giving meaning in the digital age.
Watch the recording of the webinar “Call me teacher”
An opportunity for reflection for teachers, educators and managers who believe in a school capable of living in the present without renouncing its educational mission. riflessione per docenti, educatori e dirigenti che credono in una scuola capace di abitare il presente senza rinunciare alla propria missione educativa.
