A study conducted by the National Research Council in Rome has investigated the etiology of social withdrawal by identifying the triggers for such behavior among adolescents. The research, published in the Nature Group's journal Scientific Reports, analyzed thousands of adolescents aged between 14 and 19. Three profiles of adolescents were identified: the "social butterflies", the "friend-centric", and the "lone wolves ". Just within the latter profile, a subgroup was identified consisting of adolescents who no longer meet their friends in the extracurricular world, whose number has almost doubled since the pandemic, from 5.6% in 2019 to 9.7% in 2022. It is particularly seen that hyper-connectedness, i.e., overexposure to social media, plays a primary role in this corrosive process of adolescent interaction and identity and subsequently individual psychological well-being. Hyper-connectedness is mainly responsible for both self-isolation and the explosion of youth suicidal ideations. The study shows that not only from 2019 to 2022 have the number of young people who limit themselves to attending school in their lives drastically increased, but also in the adolescent world the habit of spending free time face-to-face with friends has significantly decreased: "lone wolves" have even tripled in 3 years, from 15% to 39.4%. Although slightly more prevalent among girls, the phenomenon affects both sexes and does not show substantial regional differences related to the type of school attended or family socio-cultural and economic background, as was assumed in the past. This clearly indicates that the problem is becoming global and endemic. What do these young people have in common? Poor quality of social relationships (with parents, particularly with their mother), low relational trust (toward family members and teachers), victimization by cyberbullying and bullying, hyper-connectedness by social media, low participation in extracurricular sports, and dissatisfaction with their bodies. The phenomenon, comparable to Japan's Hikikomori, could generate a real social emergency.