The focus of this paper, as part of a plenary, is to examine the vicissitudes and resulting challenges of being an adolescent and an emerging adult in a world “pervaded” by digital and virtual communications. Acknowledging the myriad stories that abound in professional and popular journals about the role of social media and virtual communications in negatively impacting an adolescent’s mental health, this paper attempts an expansion of that dialogue. Can we can work with ourselves, as psychoanalysts, to find a way to embrace the originality, the excitement, the opportunities for creativity and simply the “changes” we all face digitally, in an even handed, psychoanalytically thoughtful manner? Two assertions of this non-exhaustive paper: (1) Mental health troubles exclusively attributed to social media influences are best examined in light of the pre-morbid status, the community of the adolescent and their social support system. (2) All of these issues must be understood in terms of the developmental tasks of adolescence. A clinical vignette contributes to examining these assertions.