Adolescents’ use of technology has become an area of concern within multidisciplinary teams in the NHS, with broad consensus that it often facilitates further psychological deterioration in young people who are already vulnerable to mental health difficulties. The author wishes to promote a place for curiosity about the potential meaning, both conscious and unconscious, behind adolescents’ use of technology as they describe it to their therapists in the consulting room. It is suggested that there are unconscious reasons why individual adolescents are drawn towards specific websites or ‘apps’ in order to communicate their internal world, distress or wishes for change in their environment. Three composite cases are discussed in order to illustrate these points. It is suggested that child psychotherapists have a potentially important role to play in deepening understanding of these worrying developments in adolescents’ lives. It is also suggested that there may be unconscious barriers to our being able to think fully about these issues, which are explored further in the discussion.