The value of people in their various dimensions is a priority in the postmodern era. In this respect, programs are being implemented for disadvantaged social categories to compensate for differences, reduce discrepancies, and integrate marginalized people into society. This, however, is not easy, and the work of professionals with people in difficulty is frequently difficult, consuming multiple resources and, sometimes, leading to burnout. The professions involved in the recovery work of people in difficulty provide social, medical, psychological, and spiritual assistance services in order to restore or increase the well-being of disadvantaged people or social groups. This study presents an analysis of burnout among social workers and clerics and the effect of supervision on burnout. In support of this, a sociological survey (n = 502) was conducted on a convenience sample of Romanian social workers and clerics in June 2018. The main conclusion of the study is that supervising professionals working with people in difficulty significantly reduces the risk of burnout.

Adolescence is a complicated, full of challenges and explorations period in life on the way to adulthood. The behaviour of adolescents is considerably re-configuring under the pressure of biological, psychological, and social transformations, and the internalization of community rules and values, as well as the adoption of desirable behaviours, is not always easy or successful. During adolescence, anomie can easily become an attractivestatus quo, but it can also evolve, however, relatively easy, to delinquency. This exploratory study, part of the Planet Youth project, is based on an analysis of 17 items from a questionnaire applied to a sample of 2,694 young people in Bucharest, Romania, in 2018, high schoolers in grades 9–11. The main objective of this approach was to assess the impact of some socio-cultural factors regarding school, family, peer group, and neighbourhood on the adoption of deviant and delinquent behaviours among Bucharest teenagers. For data analysis, two dependent variables were built by aggregating items in the questionnaire: the level of anomie (composed of 8 items) and deviant behaviour (composed of 17 items). As independent variables, 17 predictors composed from 67 questions from the questionnaire were used. The main results reflect a high level of anomie among the adolescents of Bucharest and a low level of deviance, and a weak link between these two variables. On the other hand, adolescent anomie and deviance are favoured by anger management, perceived peer attitudes to substance use and digital leisure, together with low parental surveillance.

The digitalization of everyday life has become a common place reality for more than half of the global population. Being connected 24/7 on several devices, being only one click/touch away from a huge amount of digital content, being available for interactions with almost any users from around the globe have become routine. In this paper, we identify the main sociological dimensions of the so-called Homo interneticus—a new manifestation of the human condition—on the basis of new communication technologies. The main research question was: Is time spent online a valid predictor of smartphone addiction? We conducted an experimental survey using a standard online questionnaire incorporating the Smartphone Addiction Scale—Short Version, followed by a request to upload screen captures recording respondents’ phone use during the previous week. We gathered 140 responses between May and July 2019. These were anonymously analyzed. The consistency between self-estimates and phone logs that we found gives encouragement for the development of this approach. A main finding is that the daily time spent on smartphone use is not in itself a strong predictor of addiction. Our research suggests that future studies should distinguish types of usage and investigate motivational springs.

The socialization between the effective and virtual patternsrepresent a sociological paper focus on the daily effects generated by the over-utilization of the NICT. The extensive utilization of the any devices dedicated for various kind of computer mediated communication can generate an alteration of the basic socialization skills, like direct interactions, face-to-face communication, empathize and so on. If the social interactions trend to be developed mostly into the technological mediated way, than this pattern will be reflected into the loosing of the classical abilities for living together with others. Are we approaching for a living model such in well known Isaac Asimov SF novel, "The Robots from Aurora", without any direct interactions? We will try not to find solutions, but only to show the contemporary risks.

We have already experienced almost two years of COVID-19 pandemic related problems, stress and negative feelings. All over the world, various restrictions have been imposed to reduce the spread of the virus. A particular social category directly affected by the COVID-19 restrictions is that of students. In Romania, classes have been held online from March 2020 until April 2022 for a large part of the higher education system. How have students been affected by these semesters of online classes? This paper sets out to answer this research question on the basis of two sociological surveys, applied online in May 2020 (N = 518) and in May 2021 (N = 206). Its main finding is that there are two different patterns students employ in order to cope with the limitations imposed by the pandemic restrictions: the badger approach, in which they take refuge in leisure activities, and the beaver approach, involving more dynamic and sustainable behaviors.