Modern youth and the Internet. The Internet and its impact on youth

Collection output:

THE INFLUENCE OF THE INTERNET ON MODERN YOUTH

Kulagina Yana Mikhailovna

student of the Faculty of History and Philology of Nizhny Novgorod State University. Lobachevsky, Arzamas branch, Russian Federation, Arzamas

Tarasova Inna Yurievna

senior lecturer of the Russian University of Cooperation Arzamas branch, Russian Federation, Arzamas

INTERNET INFLUENCE ON MODERN YOUTH

Yana Kulagina

student of historical-philological faculty, of Nizhniy Novgorod State University of Lobachevskiy, Arzamas branch, Russia, Arzamas

Inna Tarasova

a teacher head of Russian University of cooperation, Arzamas branch, Russia, Arzamas

ANNOTATION

The article aims to consider the influence of the Internet on modern youth and determine its place in the communication process. Using a survey, it was revealed that the main purpose of using the Internet is communication and search necessary information. Based on the survey results, we can come to the conclusion that communication, as a key type of socialization, occurs mainly on the Internet.

ABSTRACT

The aim of this article is to view the Internet influence on modern youth and to determinate its place in the process of communication. With the help of the questionnaire we can see that the main goal of using the Internet is communication. Also, it is the primary source of getting information. On the basis of questionnaire results we can come to the conclusion that communication, as a kind of socialization, generally takes place in the Internet.

Key words: the influence of the Internet; communication; socialization; modern youth; survey.

Keywords: influence of the Internet; communication; socialization; modern youth; questionnaire

The development of information technology has become a key moment of the 21st century. Changes occurring in the structure of society under the influence of the Internet are of great interest among scientists. The reason for this is the ambiguous influence of the Internet on people and society as a whole, which leads to both negative and positive consequences. The first is the phenomenon of Internet addiction, which is the subject of discussion among Russian and foreign sociologists.

First of all, Internet addiction manifests itself in the fact that people, spending a lot of time on the Internet, forget about their responsibilities and real problems. Unlimited use of computers and the Internet is especially dangerous for children. A large amount of time spent in front of a computer monitor leads to excessive visual stress and, as a result, to the development of myopia. There are also problems associated with digestion, headaches, and impaired concentration. Speaking about the latter, we can note the fact that almost any Internet resource is designed according to the principle “read this and see what else is there.” Basically, sites display bright graphic advertisements that attract the attention of any person, even those with an iron psyche. As a result, attention becomes more distracted than it was before. Another one of the most dangerous consequences- this is limitation emotional contact and communication with loved ones and friends in real life, which leads to a number of psychological problems. Of course, the Internet also has positive implications. For example, it promotes both educational and intellectual development: there are a variety of parenting websites that contain valuable material for raising and teaching children (online educational games, interactive textbooks, drawing lessons, English language etc.) .

Many sociologists consider the issue of Internet addiction from the point of view of its influence on the socialization of a teenager. Thanks to the Internet, all conditions are created for the earlier inclusion of an individual in social activity. With the help of a computer, he can participate in all spheres of social life. But this phenomenon has a dual nature - not all scientists agree that early involvement in all spheres of public life (political, economic, cultural, etc.) has a positive impact on the formation of personality. It was noted that each stage of development must occur at a certain period of a person’s growing up, and that often the child is actually not ready to adequately assess what is happening around him. It should be emphasized that the possibility of free access to resources and free self-expression leads to the creation of a kind of unique culture within the Internet. Users unite by interests, similarity of opinions and worldview in online communities, communicating and sharing information on forums and websites.

Once in such a community, the user acquires a status that is determined by his relevance and/or power in this community. As a rule, people who have high status in real life also acquire it in virtual reality. However, there are exceptions when a user with a low status in reality gradually gains authority on the Internet. An example of this is Pavel Durov, who created one of the most popular social networks“Vkontakte”, which became famous in Russia and abroad.

A number of the following characteristics of communication on the Internet are highlighted:

$11. In Internet communication, non-verbal means of communication lose their importance. Of course, there is a set of "emoticons" that represent a range of emotions, but this is not an equal equivalent. In other words, a person cannot adequately evaluate an opponent due to his physical lack of representation.

$12. Anonymous nature of communication. Anonymity makes it possible for a teenager to self-present, based not only on his psychological characteristics, but also allowing him to create a different image that is significantly different from the real one.

In turn, positive aspects include expanding the circle of communication, increasing the level of awareness in certain areas, as well as overcoming communication deficits.

During the psychological analysis of young people (secondary, secondary specialized, higher educational institutions, employed, unemployed, etc.), a number of characteristics were identified that are inherent in many people suffering from Internet addiction. This term was first coined by Dr. Ivan Goldberg in 1996 to describe an uncontrollable, painful craving for the Internet. There are a number of factors to consider regarding this disorder. Firstly, constant use of a computer leads to a person’s stress. An equally important problem is that the use of a computer causes damage to the social, psychological, and interpersonal status of the individual.

Finally, Internet addiction can be caused by psychopathology: K.S. Young found that depression is often associated with Internet addiction. Depressed patients who have difficulty communicating or social adaptation, often resort to the Internet to overcome the difficulties of interpersonal interaction in reality.

It was also noted that the Internet, as a means of “escape” from reality, opens up the following opportunities:

· the possibility of anonymous, social communication (here, a sense of security during its implementation is of particular importance);

· the opportunity to create and realize fantasies (including the ability to create new images of “I” that cannot be realized in real life (for example, role-playing games);

· unlimited access to information, “information vampirism” (the key point is that the main danger is faced by people who cannot imagine their life without the Internet and who do not know how to build relationships in real life);

· wide possibility of searching for an interlocutor based on a number of criteria, which is often impossible in real life (it is important to note here that there is no need to hold the attention of one interlocutor, since you can communicate with several at once).

It is also worth noting that the Internet provides enormous opportunities not only in the field of communication, but also in access to resources with information. One of the features of the Internet is that there are no restrictions on obtaining any kind of information. However, uncontrolled access to Internet resources also poses serious potential dangers to humans. The global network contains a large number of resources demonstrating and promoting various shapes violence, popularizing various methods of manipulating consciousness, propagating mysticism, racism, sexism, etc.

To summarize the above, we can say that the Internet plays a very important role in the life of a modern person. To determine the degree of influence of the Internet, a survey was conducted, the results of which are presented below.

In order to determine the frequency of Internet use and identify the most popular reasons for visiting Internet sites, a diagnosis was carried out among young people. The survey involved 40 respondents aged 20 to 22 years. The research method was a questionnaire.

The survey revealed that 97.5% of respondents (39 people) use the Internet daily for more than 12 hours, and only 2.5% (1 person) uses its services for less than 4 hours a day. The most popular reason for using the Internet is communication. This option was chosen in 38 out of 40 cases (95%), of which 5 respondents (12.5%) consider communication to be the only purpose of visiting the Internet. For only 2 out of 40 (5%) respondents, this goal is not a priority, but rather completely insignificant. In second place in popularity is the purpose of searching for information (70% - 28 out of 40), followed by downloading music, videos, books, games, etc.: 20 out of 40 respondents (50%). In fourth place is online shopping, which occurs in 12 out of 40 respondents (30%). And in last (fifth) place, the survey participants placed online games, which are found in only 10 out of 40 respondents (4%).

According to one of the survey questions, the most frequently visited sites are social networks, forums, chats, etc. 40 out of 40 people (100%) ranked this option in first place. Second place is occupied by Internet resources with music, films, and television programs (60% - 24 out of 40). And finally, in third place are political, humorous sites, sites of various companies and online stores. (35% - 14 out of 40).

The fact that the most popular sites in terms of traffic are social networks, various chat rooms and forums, confirms the primacy of the purpose of communication on the Internet. But on the other hand, even those respondents who did not identify communication as their main goal still very often visit sites intended for it.

No less important are the results that were obtained to the question “When you find yourself in a difficult situation, where do you look for a possible solution or advice?” The most popular answer is Google/Yandex search engines or forums (100% of respondents). In second place are relatives and friends in real life (80% - 32 out of 40). Third place is occupied by parents (70% - 28 out of 40). Based on the answers to this question, we can conclude that finding a way out of difficult situations on the Internet is a priority over advice from loved ones.

Overall, we recognize that sample limitations require caution in making generalizations, but some tentative conclusions can still be offered. Thus, summing up the results of the survey, we can state confirmation of the main hypothesis of the diagnostic study that the communication of modern young people from among the students of higher educational institutions (using the example of the Arzamas branch of the Nizhny Novgorod state university them. N.I. Lobachevsky), which is an important factor and condition for their socialization, occurs mainly on the Internet. In the future, we intend to continue research in this area.

References:

Voiskunsky A.E., Babaeva Yu.D., Smyslova O.V. Internet: impact on personality. Humanities Research on the Internet / Ed. A.E. Voyskunsky. M.: Publishing house "Mozhaisk-Terra", 2000. - 431 p.
Marchenkova N.G. Social and pedagogical aspects of preventing computer addiction among students: textbook. a guide for a wide range of research. and practitioner. / N.G. Marchenkova. Orenburg: Print-Service Publishing House, 2009. - 54 p.
Young K.S. Diagnosis - Internet addiction / K.S. Young // Internet World. - 2000. - No. 2. [ Electronic resource] - Access mode. - URL:

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INTRODUCTION

Relevance of the research topic. Social development in modern era characterized by the rapidity and scale of social change, largely due to new information and communication technologies. Identifying the place and role of the Internet (INTERnationalNETwork) in life modern society constitutes a current interdisciplinary scientific task. The works that have appeared and are appearing recently are more devoted to individual aspects of this problem (media and the Internet, economics and the Internet, politics and the Internet, etc.), while generalizing and interdisciplinary works are practically absent. Today, the mention of the term “Internet” can contain meanings not only of a computer, but also of a social nature. The international computer network has become a new media, a publicly accessible means of mass communication, a platform for economic and political transactions, a place for leisure and even religious activities. The Internet has penetrated almost all spheres of society, its widespread entry into our lives and everyday life occurred much faster than the mass development of such technical inventions of the late 19th - first half of the 20th centuries as telephone, radio, television.

It is obvious that the social demand for the Internet has turned out to be very high. From a specialized computer network, the Internet in a short time acquired the features of a social system. According to a report by the analytical company comScore, the number of Internet users in the world reached 772 million people in May 2009. And in Russia, by 2009, according to the Public Opinion Foundation, about 29.4 million people use the Internet, which is 26% of the total population of Russia. Thus, the Internet audience has grown significantly over the past 5 years (by 18%). Of these, about 40% of respondents “plunge” into the so-called world of virtual reality every day.

At the RIF+KIB 2010 conference taking place in Moscow, data on the number of mailboxes registered in the Russian segment of the Internet on both paid and free domains was published. According to experts, today their number has exceeded 160 million. In addition, it became known how many Russians are registered on social networks.

According to experts, 92% of users of the Russian segment of the Internet spend their time in at least one of them. Experts also reported that at the moment more than 15 million blogs have been created on the RuNet, the number of which continues to grow rapidly. Much of the growth now comes from the creation of microblogging sites such as Twitter.

The problem of studying Internet communications is the focus of attention of many domestic and foreign researchers, such as Yu.D. Babaeva, E.P. Belinskaya, A.E. Voiskunsky, A.E. Zhichkina, D.V. Ivanov, D.I. Kutyugin, V.L. Silaeva, O.G. Filatova, J. Sempsi, W. Frindte, T. Köhler, T. Schubert, J. Steuer, Sh. Turkle, K.S. Young and others. These works address the problems of communication and interaction between users on the Internet; principles of self-presentation of personality in online communication, development of identity in virtual space, features of the formation of emerging virtual communities, the problem of Internet addictions.

All of the above indicates the relevance of the topic of this work.

Purpose of the study -- study the influence of the Internet on the socialization of youth.

Object of study is the process of socialization of youth; subject -- The Internet as a factor in the socialization of youth.

Research hypothesis is that the influence of the Internet on the process of socialization is twofold, that is, it can be both positive and negative.

Research objectives:

1) based on an analysis of modern scientific literature consider the concept and main characteristics of the socialization process;

2) consider the Internet as a social phenomenon;

3) highlight aspects of socialization that are influenced by the Internet;

4) conduct a ascertaining cross-section based on the study to identify indicators of socialization that are influenced by the Internet;

The following are expected to be used in the study: methods:

1) analysis;

2) synthesis;

3) comparison;

4) survey;

5) modeling.

Research base is the Municipal Social Service Institution for Youth “Teenage and Youth Club “Mickey” of the Station District of the City of Tula.”

Study sample consist of 20 young people aged 18 to 25 years (10 boys, 10 girls).

influence of the Internet factor socialization of youth

Chapter 1. THEORETICAL ASPECTS OF THE INFLUENCE OF THE INTERNET THE PROCESS OF SOCIALIZATION OF YOUTH

1.1 Concept and main characteristicssocialization process

In the human sciences, the term “socialization” came from political economy, where its original meaning was the “socialization” of land, means of production, etc. The author of the term “socialization” in relation to a person is the American sociologist Franklin G. Giddings, who in 1887 in the book “The Theory of Socialization” used it in a meaning close to the modern one - “the development of the social nature or character of the individual”, “the preparation of human material for social life” [Podrezov].

However, addressing the issue of socialization began long before the widespread use of the corresponding term. The question of how a person becomes a competent member of society has always been the focus of attention of philosophers, writers and memoirists, and in the last third of the 19th century. began to be intensively studied by sociologists (E. Durkheim) and social psychologists (G. Tarde).

Before the theory of socialization was formalized into an independent scientific field, research proceeded within the framework of other traditional problems of human science (on the tasks of education, formation and development of the individual and society, intergenerational transmission of culture, etc.). With the advent of the concept of “socialization” in scientific use, a reorientation of these works took place in a new direction, and by the middle of the 20th century. socialization has become an independent interdisciplinary field of research. Today, the problem of socialization or its individual aspects is studied by philosophers, ethnologists, sociologists, psychologists, teachers, criminologists, and representatives of other sciences.

It should be noted that until the 60s. XX century, speaking about socialization, all scientists had in mind human development in childhood, adolescence and youth. Only in recent decades has childhood ceased to be the only focus of research interest, and the study of socialization has extended to adulthood and even old age. Naturally, such a recent appeal to the study of socialization in these age stages did not allow us to accumulate extensive empirical material and make appropriate adjustments to many concepts constructed in relation to the socialization of a person in childhood, adolescence, and youth.

An analysis of numerous concepts of socialization shows that they all, in one way or another, gravitate toward one of two approaches that differently assess the role of the person himself in the socialization process. The first of them affirms or assumes a person’s passive position in the socialization process. Conventionally, this approach can be called subject-object, where society is the subject, and man is the object of its influence. Its representatives include E. Durkheim and T. Parsons. Proponents of the second approach (C. Cooley, D. Mead) proceed from the fact that a person actively participates in the process of socialization and not only adapts to society, but also influences his life circumstances and himself. This approach can be defined as subject-subject[Podrezov].

Based on the fundamental principles of both the first and second approaches, socialization can be defined as a purposeful process of transmission and assimilation by a person of values, cultural norms and patterns of behavior common in a group and society, during which the development of socially significant social roles occurs.

To date, science has developed a fairly large number of approaches to analyzing the essence of the socialization process. Let us give a general description of some of them (see Table 1).

Table 1 Basic concepts of socialization

Psychoanalytic tradition	Socialization is the dynamics of interaction between the Id, Ego, and Superego with the gradual acquisition by the individual of power over his own biological nature.
Humanistic concepts	E. Fromm: socialization is the conceptualization of positive freedom, integrating the individual into the micro- and macroenvironment, without depriving him of autonomy. A. Maslow: socialization is the self-actualization of the individual. The distortion of its practices is seen as a consequence of the orientation of the institutions implementing it towards a hedonistic distortion of human nature, interpreting it as a being striving exclusively for pleasure, and therefore in need of constant control, discipline, and punishment. E. Giddens: socialization is the source of the process of individualization, the ability to think and act independently.
Dispositional concepts	Socialization is the process of developing the dynamic traits and abilities of an individual.
Cognitive theory	J. Kelly: socialization is the formation of a thesaurus of personal constructs and skills in operating with them.
Behaviorism	B.F. Skinner: Socialization is the practice of social learning.
Phenomenology	M. Weber: socialization influences the formation of the goal-oriented nature of human behavior, thereby determining the active role of the individual in social interactions. G. Simmel: the process of socialization appears in the form of the development of the essential properties of a person.
Structural functionalism	O. Comte, G. Spencer: a person is initially asocial, society creates him as an individual through a system of institutionalized influences. E. Durkheim: the content of socialization lies in the disciplinary influence of society. R. Dahrendorf: socialization is role adaptation. Z.V. Sikevich: the basis of socialization is the assimilation of values, beliefs, norms, rules and ideals of previous generations, the transmission of cultural norms.
Interactionism	C.H. Cooley: the individual does not have from birth the human nature that arises in groups. Personality is formed through social interactions, through the creation of a “mirror self”, made up of a set of ideas about her “generalized other”: how people perceive us, react to us, determine our reaction to their actions.

There are different approaches to periodization of stages or stages of socialization. In the most general form, given its two-sided nature, socialization can be divided into primary and secondary. Within the framework of primary socialization, a person’s first contact with a new social world occurs, which predetermines the dominance of the process of “mechanical” accumulation of a certain amount of knowledge. At the second stage, a more important way of obtaining knowledge (as well as processing previously acquired) becomes personal experience person, his professional and creative activities.

Since until the 60s. XX century It was believed that the process of socialization ends in adolescence, so one of the typical ones was periodization, in which three stages were distinguished:

Primary - socialization of the child;

Marginal - socialization in adolescence;

Sustainable, or conceptual (holistic) - socialization in the period from 17-18 years to 23-25 years.

L.S. Vygotsky and A.N. Leontyev correlates the stages of socialization with the age periodization of a person’s life: infancy (up to 1 year), childhood (up to 3 years), preschool age (3-7 years), primary school age (7-11 years), adolescence (11-- 14/15 years), youth (14/15--17 years). In this case, the criteria for identifying stages are the characteristics of personal developments, leading activities, and the social situation of development.

Six stages in the process of socialization of the individual are distinguished in accordance with L. Kohlberg’s synthetic approach: fear of punishment, orientation towards rewards, expectations of social approval, awareness of the interests and rules of society, analysis of moral beliefs, and ethical ethics itself.

The advantage of this periodization, undoubtedly, is its focus on analyzing the content of the process of integration of the individual into society. The weakness is the distance from the mechanism of socialization, the difficulty of interpreting on its basis the content of the described interactions [Mudrik].

One of the first to doubt that socialization ends in youth was the American scientist O.G. Brim Jr., who in 1966 came out with the statement that socialization occurs throughout life.

In Russian science, the point of view of G.M. has received some recognition. Andreeva, who distinguishes three stages of socialization—pre-labor, labor and post-labor.

It is quite clear that what is of fundamental importance is not the age boundaries of the various stages of socialization, but the leading trends characteristic of each of them. However, in any case, it must be taken into account that socialization is a continuous process: starting from the birth of a person, it ends with the moment of his death.

Each stage and each stage has its own specific content and course of socialization, which is determined by the peculiarities of the culture of a particular society. At each stage, and sometimes at each age stage, a person’s interaction with certain factors and agents of socialization develops differently, the means and mechanisms of socialization differ [Mudrik].

Socialization takes place in the interaction of children, adolescents, and young men with a huge number of different conditions that more or less actively influence the process of their development. These conditions affecting a person are usually called factors of socialization. It is worth noting that the degree of their impact may vary at different stages of socialization. Conventionally, socialization factors can be divided into four groups.

First -- megafactors: space, planet, world, Internet, which to one degree or another directly, but mainly through other groups of factors, influence or can influence the socialization of all inhabitants of the Earth. Second -- macro factors: country, ethnic group, society, state, which determine the specifics of socialization of people living in different countries (this influence is both direct and mediated by other groups of factors).

Third -- mesofactors: determine the conditions of socialization large groups people identified by the area and type of settlement in which they live (region, village, city, town), by belonging to certain subcultures.

Mesofactors influence socialization both directly and indirectly through the fourth group - microfactors. These include factors that directly influence specific people who interact with them - family, neighborhood, peer groups, educational organizations, religious organizations, various public, public and private organizations, microsociety.

Microfactors influence human development through the so-called agents of socialization, those. persons in direct interaction with whom his life takes place. At different age stages, the composition of agents is specific. Thus, in relation to children and adolescents, these agents are parents, brothers and sisters, relatives, peers, neighbors, and teachers. In youth or young adulthood, the agents include a spouse, work colleagues, etc.

Human socialization is carried out by a wide universal set funds, content specific to a particular society, social stratum or age of the socialized. These include:

Methods of feeding and caring for a baby;

Language and speech of agents of socialization;

Developed household and hygienic skills and ideas;

Products of material culture surrounding humans;

Elements of spiritual culture (lullabies, fairy tales, signs, prejudices, customs, works of literature and art, etc.);

Methods of reward and punishment in the family, in peer groups, in educational, professional and other socializing organizations;

Consistent introduction of a person to numerous types and types of relationships in the main spheres of his life: communication, play, cognition, subject-practical and spiritual-practical activities, sports, as well as in sexual, family, professional, recreational, social, religious and other spheres.

Socialization of a person in interaction with various factors and agents occurs through a number of so-called mechanisms. There are different approaches to considering the mechanisms of socialization. Thus, the French social psychologist G. Tarde considered imitation to be the main mechanism of socialization. American scientist W. Bronfenbrenner - progressive mutual accommodation (adaptability) between an active, growing human being and the changing conditions in which it lives. N. Smelser considers four psychological mechanisms to be the most important - imitation, identification, shame and guilt. He defines the first two as positive, and the other two as negative. V.S. Mukhina considers identification and separation of the individual as mechanisms of socialization, and A.V. Petrovsky - a natural change in the phases of adaptation, individualization and integration in the process of personality development.

Summarizing the available data, we can identify several universal psychological and socio-pedagogical mechanisms of socialization. TO psychological mechanisms socialization can be attributed to the following.

Imprinting(imprinting, imprinting) - a person’s fixation at the receptor and subconscious levels of the features of vital objects affecting him. Imprinting occurs primarily during infancy. However, even at later age stages it is possible to capture some images, sensations, etc.

Existential pressure(from lat. existence- existence) - language acquisition and unconscious assimilation of norms social behavior, mandatory in the process of interaction with significant persons.

Imitation- voluntary and involuntary following of any examples and patterns of behavior that a person encounters in interaction with people around him (primarily with significant persons), as well as those offered by the media.

Identification(identification) is the process of a person’s unconscious identification of himself with another person, group, or model.

Reflection -- internal dialogue, in which a person considers, evaluates, accepts or rejects certain norms, values, behavioral scenarios characteristic of the family, significant persons, peer society, various socio-professional and ethno-confessional layers, etc. Reflection can be an internal dialogue: between different human selves, with real or fictitious persons, etc. With the help of reflection, a person can be formed and changed as a result of his awareness and experience of the reality in which he lives, his place in this reality and himself .

The named psychological mechanisms of socialization act in line with social and pedagogical mechanisms socialization, which include the following.

Traditional mechanism socialization is the assimilation by a person of norms, standards of behavior, views, stereotypes that are characteristic of his family and immediate environment (neighbors, friends). Social mores (traditions, customs, habits, stereotypes mass behavior etc.), common in specific regions, settlements, ethno-confessional and social strata, regulating the behavior of specific people, include prosocial, asocial, and antisocial (foul language, drunkenness, theft, etc.) elements. Their assimilation occurs, as a rule, at an unconscious level with the help of imprinting, uncritical perception of prevailing stereotypes (i.e. imprinting, existential pressure, imitation, identification). The effectiveness of the traditional mechanism is very clearly manifested when a person knows “how to” and “what necessary,” but this knowledge of his contradicts the traditions of his immediate environment. For example, certain elements of social experience, learned in childhood, but subsequently unclaimed or blocked due to changed living conditions (for example, moving from a village to a big city), can “emerge” in a person’s behavior with the next change in life conditions or at subsequent age levels. stages.

Institutional mechanism socialization, as the name itself implies, functions in the process of human interaction with the institutions of society and various organizations, both specially created for his socialization, and those implementing socializing functions along the way, in parallel with their main functions (industrial, social, club and other structures, as well as funds mass media). In the process of interaction of a person with various institutions and organizations, there is an increasing accumulation of relevant knowledge and experience of socially approved behavior, as well as experience of imitation of socially approved behavior and conflict or conflict-free avoidance of fulfillment social norms. Stylized mechanism socialization operates within a certain subculture. Subculture in general terms is understood as a complex of moral and psychological traits and behavioral manifestations typical of people of a certain age or a certain professional or cultural layer, which generally creates a certain style of life and thinking of a particular age, professional, social, ethno-confessional and other groups. But a subculture influences a person’s socialization to the extent and extent to which the group members who bear it (peers, colleagues, etc.) are referent (significant) for him.

That is, in line with the stylized mechanism, imitation and identification operate primarily.

Interpersonal mechanism socialization functions in the process of a person’s interaction with persons significant to him. It is based on psychological mechanism identification. Significant persons can be parents (at any age), any respected adult, a peer friend of the same or opposite sex, etc. Naturally, significant persons can be members of certain organizations and groups with which a person interacts, and if they are peers, then they can also be carriers of an age subculture. But there are often cases when communication with significant persons in groups and organizations can have an influence on a person that is not identical to that which the group or organization itself has on him. Therefore, it is advisable to distinguish the interpersonal mechanism of socialization as specific.

Human socialization occurs through all the mechanisms mentioned above. However, in different gender, age and socio-cultural groups, in specific people, the relationship between the roles of socialization mechanisms is different, and sometimes significant. Thus, in the conditions of a village, small town, town, as well as in poorly educated families in big cities, the traditional mechanism can play a large role. In the context of a large city, institutional and stylized mechanisms are especially evident. For people of a clearly introverted type (i.e., turned inward, highly anxious, self-critical), the reflexive mechanism can become the most important.

Certain mechanisms play different role in certain areas of socialization. So, if we're talking about about the sphere of leisure, about following fashion, the leading one is often a stylized mechanism, and the lifestyle is often formed with the help of both traditional and stylized mechanisms.

From the above it follows that the socialization of a person is carried out in the process of his interaction with diverse and numerous factors, groups, organizations, agents, with the help of various means and mechanisms that not only complement each other, but are to one degree or another mismatched and contradict each other. All this objectively determines a certain degree of human autonomy, which is necessary for the formation of a personality capable of making decisions, resisting external pressure, etc.

1.2 Internet as a social phenomenon

The spread of the Internet is proceeding at a very high pace. It is safe to say that the World Wide Web is becoming an integral element of the life of Russian society. The number of Internet users is growing rapidly. Therefore, any data on their quantity becomes outdated before it becomes widely available. The distribution of the Internet in Russia is very uneven in certain regions. So, if in Moscow 75% of schools are connected to the Internet, then in the country on average only every third is connected, and there are regions where there are none at all.

Data about who is an Internet user is of interest. Researchers divide them into several categories: casual visitors; regular users of certain resources; “Internet workers”; those who can be called “inhabitants of the Internet”. The average age of a web user is 35.1 years.

Internet users have a high level of education and have a high level of income. The most extensive category is the category of users involved in the field of education, followed by the category of users whose activities are related to computers, then professionals in various fields.

A number of special studies have revealed the dominant motivation for using the Internet. In first place is the cognitive motive (named by 64% of respondents), which allows satisfying the need to search for and receive information of various types. This is followed by a business motive - 52% of respondents turn to Internet services to establish contacts and interact with partners, to organize the work of institutions, firms, etc. In addition, the Internet provides users with the opportunity to realize their need to communicate with other people, to find their place in group and gain a sense of belonging to it. This need is fulfilled by 51% of respondents and, thus, the affiliation motive takes third place in the motivation of Internet users. The next most important is the motive of self-realization (47%): searching for ways to develop one’s capabilities, methods of communication, and the formation of interests through the Internet (V.V. Pustovoitov) [Mudrik].

The possibility of free access to information and other products and resources of the Network distributed on electronic media creates conditions for the indirect interaction of the Internet user with the world and for his existence in the virtual space of the Network. The Internet creates a special cultural space for its users.

Just as the Earth is populated by millions of people, the Internet is “populated” by millions of computers, which, thanks to the use of a single information exchange protocol and a special addressing system (IP addresses, domain names), identify and find each other. Interaction on the Internet has led to the emergence of many “virtual worlds”, the subjects of which are real and virtual individuals, groups and communities. Here, real personalities should be understood as users who access the Internet under their own name and whose network activity correlates with real life.

Real communities and groups on the Internet, as a rule, are primary social groups formed in real life and presented on websites, forums, blogs created to announce and discuss events held by these communities and groups, as well as for communication between their members. An example would be a forum for a group of students at a particular university, a corporate portal for an organization, etc. Participants in such associations mostly know each other in real life.

Virtual communities and groups are often created as secondary social groups (a blog of football fans, a forum of web programmers, a site for fans of V. Tsoi), people who are familiar or unfamiliar with each other in real life, which are subsequently joined by other Internet users, united general idea or [Silaev’s] goal.

Once in an online community, a user acquires a certain status, which is determined by his relevance and/or power in this community. For example, in blogs, a user who has a large number of readers and comments on what he writes has a high status.

As in real life, statuses on the Internet can be prescribed and achieved. A user who accesses the network without a mask of virtuality, as a real person, has the prescribed status. His status will correlate in a certain way with his status in real life. If your status is high in real life, it will be high online.

However, there are exceptions when a user with a low status in real life gradually gains authority on the Internet. For example, a little-known artist and designer Oleg Kuvaev created the character Masyanya and a series of flash cartoons about her, which became very popular on the Internet, and subsequently beyond, and made the author famous.

In addition, the social system of the Internet is forming its own electronic culture, in which its inherent elements can be identified: language, norms and traditions. According to one of the classifications of languages, they are divided into natural, artificial and secondary. Natural languages of communication on the Internet are based on natural languages from real life. However, language adaptation is accompanied by various innovations. Everyday network communication is characterized by the primitivization of language, the introduction of antigrammar into it, which is contained in the use of “a” instead of the unstressed “o” and vice versa, “i” instead of the unstressed “e” and vice versa, “ts” instead of “ts” "", "ts", "ds", also "zhy" and "shy" instead of "zhi" and "shi", "sch" instead of "sch" and vice versa, "ya" instead of the initial "ya", "f" or “ff” instead of “v”, the opposite use of voiced and voiceless consonants, and the joining of words together without a space. In cases where phonetic spelling is the norm, a violation of the norm can be done in the direction opposite to the phonetic one (preved, zachot). This is due to the appearance youth subculture“padonkaf”, which settled on the popular website www.udaff.com and spread throughout the Russian-language Internet (similar trends exist in other language segments of the Internet).

In addition to grammatical changes in language, changes in vocabulary naturally occur in online discourse, based primarily on the introduction of computer terms and slang inherent in any subculture. An example of the use of new terms: “Software downloads are available only after authorization.” Translation: “you can only get the software after registration.” An example of using slang: “Posharpypikchu!” Translation: “Make the picture clearer!” Development natural languages Internet users help them quickly socialize in online communities, communicate unhindered, and position themselves as individuals.

Most online communities have their own traditions, which come from real life or are formed through long-term communication online. For example, joint New Year celebrations, celebrations of virtual weddings and birthdays (for users who spend most of their time on the Internet) or a posteriori posting of photographic and textual reports about past events (for users who spend most of their time on the Internet) have become traditional on forums, blogs and chats. spend less of their time on the Internet). Honoring the memory of deceased (in real life) bloggers has become traditional; the livejournal.com community even has virtual cemeteries.

Another consolidating factor is the norms of behavior, the moral side of which corresponds to the norms of behavior in real life, although their observance is compromised by the possibility of quickly leaving the community and entering it under a different name. Technical side behavior should be such that the activities of each network user do not interfere with the work of other users. In particular, a ban on spam, a ban on unauthorized access, compliance with the rules established by resource owners, etc. are prescribed.

Behavior standards are gradually beginning to be regulated and economic factors. This is due to the transfer into electronic form of financial and consumer services (virtual stores, electronic payments, etc.), which are implemented through the Internet information space, stratified by domain owners and providers. The latter determine the possibility of access and rules of user behavior in their information territories [Silaeva].

Communication carried out via the Internet is diverse. There are the following main types of online communication.

1. Real-time communication:

With one interlocutor;

WITH a large number people at the same time.

2. Communication in which messages arrive to the addressee with a delay:

With one interlocutor;

With many people.

The means of Internet communication include the following.

Chats. Chat (English) chat- chat) - a site that provides the ability to exchange text messages with several users at once in real time, as well as software that allows you to organize such communication (Internet pagers). They are also called IM (Instantmessengers) - a class of programs designed to exchange messages over the Internet in real time. The most popular Internet messenger is ICQ, better known as ICQ, a computer program that allows two users to exchange text messages in real time. The service user works with a client program (messenger) running on a device connected to the network Internet. The messenger connects to the server. Searching and communication with other clients is carried out through the server, and the exchange of service data and messages between users can be carried out both through the server and without its participation. Initially, the name “ICQ” was identified with the program of the same name, which was created in November 1996 by high school students from Tel Aviv Arik Vardi, YairGoldfinger, SefiVigiser and Amnon Amir. The name is an abbreviation of the sound of the English phrase “Iseekyou”, which translated means “I am looking for you”. Subsequently, other ICQ clients appeared [Silaeva].

There are also voice and video chats, which provide the opportunity to communicate both through regular text correspondence, and at the same time hear and (in the case of video chat) watch each other through a webcam. The most popular program currently implementing these capabilities is Skype -- free, proprietary, closed-source software that provides encrypted voice communications over the Internet between computers (VoIP), and paid services for calls to mobile and landline phones. The program also allows you to make conference calls (up to 25 voice subscribers, including the initiator), video calls (including video conferences for up to 10 subscribers), and also provides text messaging (chat) and file transfer. It is possible to transmit an image from the monitor screen instead of the image from the webcam. Skype was founded by two entrepreneurs - Swede Niklas Zennström and Dane Janus Friis. Authors software Estonians Ahti Heinla, PriitKasesalu and Jaan Tallinn became. The first release of the program and website appeared in September 2003.

Forums. A forum is an Internet communication tool located as a website page or as a separate website. A forum usually consists of sections, which in turn are divided into topics in which users disguised as nicknames write their messages on a given topic.

Video conferencing. Videoconferencing is an area of information technology that simultaneously provides two-way transmission, processing, transformation and presentation of interactive information over a distance in real time using computer hardware and software. Using a video camera and microphone, Internet users can see and hear each other. However, the variety of technical challenges associated with achieving high-quality video conferencing make it a much less common form of communication[Mudryk].

Electronic mail (e-mail)-- technology and the services it provides for sending and receiving electronic messages (called letters or emails) over a distributed (including global) computer network.

Blogs. Blog blog, from weblog -- online event log, online diary) -- a website whose main content is regularly added entries containing text, images or multimedia. Blogs are characterized by short entries of temporal significance, sorted in reverse chronological order (last entry on top). The differences between a blog and a traditional diary are determined by the environment: blogs are usually public and involve third-party readers who can enter into public debate with the author (in comments to a blog entry or on their own blogs). People who write a blog are called bloggers. The totality of all blogs on the Internet is usually called the blogosphere [Wikipedia].

Social media. A social network is an interactive multi-user website, the content of which is filled by the network participants themselves. The site is an automated social environment that allows a group of users with a common interest to communicate. There are also social networks for searching not only people with interests, but also the objects of these interests themselves: websites, music to listen to, etc. Peoplesonomy is usually used in such networks. Usually on the network website it is possible to indicate information about yourself (date of birth, school, university, favorite activities, etc.), by which other participants can find the user’s account. There are open and closed social networks. One of the usual features of social networks is the system of “friends” and “groups”.

In fact, social networks appeared with the formation of society as such, but the idea that the interaction of people can be figuratively represented as a network (in the nodes of which there are individuals, and the lines connecting them can be interpreted as a reflection of interaction in pairs) arose much later, but , of course, long before the creation of the Internet. Back in 1902, the famous sociologist C. Cooley wrote: “A person can be represented as the point of intersection of any number of lines that denote social groups, the number of lines corresponding to the number of groups to which the individual belongs.”

Social networks began their victorious march across the Internet in 1995 with the American portal Classmates.com. The project turned out to be very successful, which in the next few years provoked the emergence of dozens of similar services. But the official beginning of the social networking boom is considered to be 2003-2004, when LinkedIn, MySpace and Facebook were launched.

And if LinkedIn was created for the purpose of establishing/maintaining business contacts, then the owners of MySpace and Facebook relied primarily on satisfying the human need for self-expression. After all, in accordance with A. Maslow’s pyramid, self-expression is the highest human need, even ahead of recognition and communication. Social networks have become a kind of Internet haven where everyone can find technical and social base to create your virtual “I”. At the same time, each user received the opportunity not only to communicate and create, but also to share the fruits of their creativity with a multi-million audience of one or another social network.

The popularity of social networks varies in different regions. Thus, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are more popular and widespread in North America. Other networks: Nexopia (Canada); Bebo (UK); Facebook, Hi5, dol2day (Germany), Tagged.com (English), XING (English) and Skyrock (in various European countries); PublicBroadcastingService, Orkut, Facebook and Hi5 (South and Central America) (55% of Brazilian network users prefer Orkut); Friendster, Multiply, Orkut, Xiaonei and Cyworld (Asia).

The leaders in terms of the number of users are Facebook (500,000,000), MySpace (255,000,000), WindowsLiveSpaces (120,000,000), HabboHotel (121,000,000), VKontakte (109,698,570), Friendster (Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, 90 000,000), Hi5 (80,000,000), Tagged.com (70,000,000) [Wikipedia].

“VKontakte” is the largest social network in Runet, the Russian analogue of the Facebook service, according to AlexaInternet, the second most visited site in Russia, second in Ukraine and Belarus, fourth in Kazakhstan, 34th in the world. The site initially positioned itself as a social network of students and graduates of elite Russian higher educational institutions, and later as a universal method of communication for all social groups and ages. In January 2009, VKontakte for the first time overtook its main competitor, Odnoklassniki, in terms of traffic in Russia. And already in April, 14.3 million unique visitors visited the VKontakte website Russian users, while on Odnoklassniki - 7.8 million, which is almost two times less. For a long time There was no exact information about the owners of the site. This circumstance gave rise to conflicting rumors that the site was created and owned by the FSB, which uses it to control its users. At the end of 2007, Pavel Durov ( chief administrator site) declared the groundlessness of such rumors, but there is still no third-party confirmation [Wikipedia]. "Odnoklassniki.ru" is a social network, the Russian analogue of the site Classmates.com (English), used to find classmates, classmates, former graduates and communicate with them. The project was launched on March 4, 2006. The author of the project and the creator of the site is Popkov Albert Mikhailovich.

The site is one of the most popular resources on the Russian-language Internet, occupying, according to some data, one of the leading places in terms of monthly coverage for the audience of Russian Internet users aged 14-55 years (data as of July 2009), among sites not related to search engines and among all Russian-language resources. According to the site's own statistics, as of February 2010, 45 million users were registered, the site traffic was 10 million visitors per day [Wikipedia].

The Internet is not only a sphere of communication, but also an extensive library where you can find texts on any topic. At the same time, the Internet provides the user with the opportunity to decide for himself what information is useful to him and what is not. The absence of external restrictions on obtaining information (the Internet, except China, is not yet controlled by the Government or anyone) is probably one of its most attractive properties. However, uncontrolled access to Internet resources also poses serious potential dangers to humans. The global network contains a large number of pornographic resources that demonstrate and promote various forms of violence, popularize various methods of manipulating consciousness, instilling mysticism, racism, sexism, etc.

There is a certain criminal component in the Internet space, which includes diverse resources: on the one hand, websites of terrorist organizations and groups and various extremist and radical movements, on the other, casinos, slot machines, bookmakers, sweepstakes, which in large numbers are associated with organized crime (independent experts believe that in Russia alone, virtual roulettes bring in from 200 to 500 million US dollars a year) [Mudrik].

1.3 The influence of the Internet on the socialization process

The influence of the information component on society in general and on socialization processes in particular has increased sharply since their qualitative change, which provided information users with the opportunity to actively participate in the movement and transformation of information flows. Because of this, information as a value of a new type of society is determined not only and not so much by its general availability, cognitive, economic or political potential, but by the possibility of personalization, which defines new facets of individual self-identification. Thus, the new information environment acts as both a means and a medium social development personality [Social psychology - Reader - Comp. Belinskaya E.P., Tikhomandritskaya O.A.].

Currently, there is intensive experimentation with anonymity from extreme self-disclosure with elements of exhibitionism (here - exposure of the most intimate feelings, actions, experiences, etc.) and/or aggravation (here - exaggeration of one’s difficulties in order to evoke sympathy, etc.) to deception, a tendency to manipulate and attempts to actually control the opinion of oneself (A. Zhichkina, E. Belinskaya).

Thus, in a chat it is possible to send a message to an individual, which the group may not see, but for teenagers it is the possibility of group communication that is particularly attractive. In these types of multimedia chat environments, textual conversations often take place in a virtual space where participants use small visualization icons, called avatars, to introduce themselves. Some users (especially teenagers) like to pretend to be fictitious, changing their name, age, personality, and sometimes gender. Some chat environments (such as multi-user virtual reality systems) are confusing fantasy world, in which participants create all sorts of fictional roles and scenarios. It resembles a living novel with its own characters and plots. The inability to see and hear another person makes chat a rather ambiguous and anonymous means of communication, especially since people do not know each other's real names.

Many scientists, within the framework of the issue of Internet communications, consider the problem of social identity of users.

A.E. Zhichkina and E.P. Belinskaya believe that the more places social identity occupies in self-categorization, the lower the activity of users on the Internet. At the same time, identification with a virtual social group is similar in its impact on user activity to identification with real social groups: a high degree of identification with both a real and virtual social group prevents users from being active on the Internet.

Speaking about the problem of identity of Internet users, it is necessary to touch upon the phenomenon of creating “virtual personalities”. It receives attention from researchers such as Sh. Turkle, J. Sempsi, A.E. Zhichkina, K.S. Young. These authors identify two groups of reasons for the creation of “virtual personalities”: motivational (satisfaction of existing desires) and “search” (desire to experience new experiences as some independent value) reasons. In the first case, the creation of a “virtual personality” has a compensatory function. According to K.S. Young, Sh. Turkle, Sempsi, such a “virtual personality” exists both “for oneself”, realizing the ideal “I” or, conversely, realizing the destructive tendencies of the user, and “for others” - in order to make a certain impression on others.

In the second case, a “virtual personality” is created to expand existing opportunities for real socialization and gain new experience. So A.E. Zhichkina believes that the creation of a “virtual personality” is not a compensatory desire to overcome the objective or subjective difficulties of real communication and interaction: quite often the “virtual personality” turns out to be not correlated with either the “ideal” or the “real” self [Maltovnik].

E-mail attracts some because when communicating, the interlocutors do not see or hear each other (complete anonymity can occur), which looks especially attractive in adolescence and early adolescence, when people often experience certain difficulties in establishing direct contact with other people. In addition, e-mail eliminates the possibility of third parties reading a personal message, thereby ensuring the intimacy of communication.

Thus, communication via the Internet creates prospects for overcoming communication deficits and expanding the circle of contacts, increasing awareness of the issues under discussion, protection from the most crude manipulative actions, and the exchange of situational emotional states and moods.

Communication on the Internet is perhaps most attractive in adolescence and early adolescence, when they are looking for new friends and new subcultures, trying to gain a sense of belonging to a particular group. On the Internet, a young person gets the opportunity to communicate with an almost limitless number of people and interest groups, with all kinds of personalities, learns many stories, has the opportunity to exchange opinions and discuss issues that interest him. The search for one’s own social circle parallels the trend of autonomy from parents. Teenagers want to be independent and do their own thing. The Internet is especially tempting in this regard - it allows you to satisfy the need for leadership and stimulates entrepreneurship. On the other hand, teenagers are still afraid of complete autonomy.

It is known that adolescence and youth are a time of stress and frustration. A teenager, a young man, or a girl experiences stress everywhere - at school, in the family, when communicating with friends. What to do with this feeling of dissatisfaction, especially when it is associated with sexuality and aggression, and is also intensified by hormonal surges? It is necessary to give vent to your emotions, for which the anonymous world of cyberspace is ideally suited (J. Saler).

The factors of novelty and unfamiliarity of experience, which allows one to vary the degree of anonymity of communication, are extremely important. Novelty naturally attracts young people, who have been shown to be the most active in experimenting with anonymous forms of communication. In addition, teenagers, like older people, highly value the opportunity to compensate and neutralize, in the course of Internet-mediated communication, those obstacles that often make direct contact painful: real or imaginary flaws in their own appearance, speech defects (for example, stuttering), certain properties character (shyness, etc.) or mental illness(eg autism). With a high degree of anonymity of communication, such shortcomings are not difficult to hide, and in the case of intrusive questions on a sensitive topic, communication can be interrupted [Mudrik].

Internet use by teenagers

An interesting article was published on 03/09/2017 on The Village website, with stories from five Russian teenagers aged 11 - 16 years old, about how they use and what importance the Internet has for them, what their favorite sites and social networks are, their opinion about safety on the Internet and about parental control.

In many ways, these teenagers' attitudes toward the Internet reflect the results of the study below. Except for their general opinion: the Internet has “cons” and dangers.

In 2013, the first (and so far the only) all-Russian scientific study of the digital competence of adolescents and parents of children was conducted adolescence. The study was conducted by the Internet Development Foundation and the Faculty of Psychology of Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov with the support of Google.

In Russia, 89% of teenagers aged 12–17 use the Internet daily. On weekdays, 37% of them spend 3 to 8 hours on the Internet, on weekends - 47%. Mobile Internet It is twice as popular among children as among their parents.

Most teenagers use the Internet to search for interesting information. In second place in popularity is the search for information for study.

As it turned out, almost a third of the children surveyed believe that the Internet is devoid of any disadvantages, and every tenth had difficulties with the very question about the “disadvantages” of the Internet.

The main conclusion of the study is that the level of digital competence of both parents and adolescents themselves is approximately a third of the maximum possible in Russia (31% for parents and 34% for adolescents).

In January 2019, VTsIOM conducted a survey of adults and adolescents (14–17 years old) on issues related to the influence of social networks on their behavior.

It is significant that respondents of all ages note that teenagers’ interest in “bad” groups on social networks is formed not by the networks themselves, but by the real problems of schoolchildren: 49% of teenagers believe that such interest is caused by real psychological problems, 31% – conflicts with peers and 29% – lack of parental control.

According to the Foundation's survey " Public opinion”, conducted in December 2015, only 10% of children over 6 years old do not use social networks. The question was asked to respondents who have children over 6 years old living with them.

The influence of the Internet on teenagers

Psychologists at the Perekrestok Center for Social and Psychological Adaptation and Development of Adolescents believe that one of the main problems is the development of computer addiction.

British psychologists consider teenagers' addiction to Facebook, Twitter and computer games to be a positive phenomenon. In their opinion, the decrease in the use of alcohol and drugs by teenagers in Europe and the USA is associated with the growing popularity of social networks, computer games and the spread of social media among young people.

Russian teenagers, like their Western peers, spend a significant part of their free time on the Internet. However, this does not affect the level of drug use.

Teenage Internet Addiction and Violence

Internet addiction is the plague of the 21st century. Unfortunately, children are not able to cope with this themselves. Parents need not to conflict with their children, not to abandon them, but to accept them as they are. Because parents definitely have a share in the fact that their child became like this. Here it is important to admit your mistakes, but this is the most difficult thing - parents always consider themselves right.

On the Internet, teenagers have the opportunity to be some kind of asexual being who kills everyone and everything, feeling strong and cool. If this is completely absorbed by a child, then he will simply grow into a criminal. At some point he will think that in real life, too, everything is permitted. One of these gambling guys answered the question: “What were you thinking then?” - answered: “I had two desires - either to kill someone, or to be killed.”

The paradox of children's technological literacy

Today's children may be great consumers of technology, but they are rarely tech literate, says BT Group (British Telecommunications plc) chief executive Gavin Patterson.

They may look like savvy digital natives, but their knowledge is limited by the depth of the screen. They are passive users, not active creators. And most of them, in fact, have little interest in how the technology they depend on actually functions. I consider this to be the paradox of technological literacy.

Russian schoolchildren: privacy and security on the Internet

This report was made by Galina Vladimirovna Soldatova, Professor of the Department of Personality Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov, on November 10, 2015 in Moscow, 6th International conference“Protection of personal data.”

76% of Russian schoolchildren spend an average of 3 hours a day on the Internet. Every seventh teenager aged 12 to 17 years spends almost a third of their life on the Internet (8 hours a day). Modern schoolchildren perceive the Internet not as a set of technologies, but as a living environment.

Almost every second teenager does not respect the principle of confidentiality regarding their passwords on social networks. At the same time, there are still children who are ready to share their password with strangers.

More than a third of teenagers are still ready to tell a stranger online personal information: first and last name, exact age, and also send a photo. A sixth of children will share their mobile phone number, and almost the same number will share their school number.

The influence of computer and Internet on school performance

The authors of the study, conducted in Northern Ireland schools, did not find a direct link between the time children spend on social media and their grades. Video games, on the other hand, may impair GCSE scores.

Major investments in school information technology have "failed to produce measurable improvements" in Program for International Student Assessment test scores in reading, mathematics and science, according to a report by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

As Andreas Schleicher, director of education programs at the OECD, said on this occasion, computerization and the introduction of the Internet in schools “have given rise to too many unrealistic hopes.”

The Google effect or how the Internet is changing our brain

Today almost any information can be found using search engines. It's possible, say Harvard University psychologists Daniel Wegner and Adrian Ward, that the Internet is replacing not only other people storing information, but also our own cognitive processes. The Internet can not only save us from the need to exchange information “live”, but also weaken our desire to remember important information. Psychologists call this the Google effect.

“Until the age of 15, students tend to have a naive perception of information sources. They often do not feel the urge to check the information they receive and tend to take it as it is, focusing on what is being said,” says French scientist Jean-François Rouet, who assesses the impact of the digital environment on reading and information seeking.

The problem of children's safety on the Internet in other countries

Europeans are most concerned about cyberbullying (bullying) on social networks and its consequences, when, due to mockery from peers, a teenager can become depressed or think about suicide.

Facebook on your

UDC: 30.308, 30.304, 004.5

Teryakova Anna Sergeevna

Head: Ph.D., Associate Professor Bobrova I.I.

Magnitogorsk State Technical University named after. G. I. Nosova

Institute of History, Philology and Foreign Languages

We live in a time when the value of high technology is very high. The Internet has become an integral part of our lives. It has taken over absolutely all spheres of life. Currently, it is impossible to imagine any mobile device or computer without the Internet. Sometimes you wonder how people lived without it just a few years ago and how they managed to get used to it in such a short time.

The relevance of the topic of this article is that there are more and more social networks. Today they have taken up all the free time of young people and children. According to statistics, approximately 50% of all Russians are registered in one of the social networks. According to domestic scientists, 96% of teenagers communicate via the Internet.

The monitoring agency “News Effector” conducted a study to find out the degree of dependence of Russians on the Internet. Of 7,800 respondents aged 18 to 55 throughout Russia, 61% of people claim that the amount of time they spend on the Internet is constantly increasing; 30% of respondents admitted that they surf the Internet to kill time, i.e. without a specific goal. About 78% of Russians have a positive attitude towards the Internet. At the same time, 5% are extremely negative.

That is why some scientists are seriously studying the problem of Internet addiction and, in particular, addiction to social networks. This “disease” is studied by such scientists as K. Young, M.A. Shatalina, James Barsons and others. Internet addiction is of scientific interest to a wide range of scientists, but despite this, issues related to this area have not been sufficiently studied and described in textbooks and other scientific literature.

Every day, millions of people spend their free time on the Internet: looking for work, meeting new people, communicating with friends, colleagues, searching necessary information, share their knowledge with others and gain new ones. Nowadays you rarely see young people reading newspapers or watching the news. Most people are accustomed to the fact that any information they need can be found on the Internet and they do not need to make a huge effort to do so. For example, you don’t need to go to the library and sit there, sorting through literature. You can sit at home at your computer with a cup of tea, write what you need into the search bar and the Internet will give you a thousand results.

About the fact internet addiction It also says that more than half of youth need to log into a website at least once a day, and nearly a quarter of teens say they log into social media several times a day (from a report published on the website).

A person runs away from his problems and goes straight to social networks, where he can forget about it and come up with a new life for himself, a new name, and “get rid” of some of his complexes. A person begins to perceive his “ideal world” as part of reality and does not see boundaries between them. A person creates a new image of himself, attributing to himself qualities that he may not have at all in his life. For example, a modest, reserved person on a social network can position himself as sociable, sociable person. In the virtual world, a person can position himself as a self-sufficient person who does not need anything; he can also meet, as it seems to him, his soulmate, who may be very far from him. Often this “virtual image” has nothing to do with the person himself, who is looking on social networks for what he lacks in real life, so this “ perfect life"becomes more valuable to him than the real thing.

Many young people cannot do without virtual communication, completely forgetting about communication in real life. Very often you can observe such a picture when people sit without stopping on their phones, for example, in public transport, on the street, even when meeting with friends. Over time, a certain reflex is developed, a person begins to constantly check his mail in the hope that someone will write to him or visit his page. A person begins to depend on it. It becomes important for him not only to show how he lives, but also to see how others live. Now young people have begun to take photographs not for a memorable album in which they can save important moments in life, but in order to post it all on a social network, then see who liked your photos and read comments from friends and acquaintances. Acquaintances or friends post photos from a wedding, from a prom, from trips, curiosity begins to overcome, no one wants to miss interesting news or learn something new from the lives of friends. Looking through one photo after another, one page, a second, a third, a person forgets about time.

Today, there are such “devoted” users who are on social networks around the clock. In the morning at work or school, the first thing they do is check their email, sometimes devoting more time to this than to their main task. On the way home or to work, in line, while eating, they use a phone or, for example, a tablet to access social networks. In the evening, when they come home, they sit down at the computer again and in the morning everything starts all over again. It is worth noting that such people really like to cover their entire lives on social networks, namely with the help of statuses. Statuses change not only depending on the type of activity, for example “eating”, “sleeping”, “going to work”, but it also depends on the emotional experiences of this person. The above-described human condition is partly reminiscent of addiction to alcohol or, for example, drugs; based on this, we can say that addiction to social networks is a disease of young people.

The article by K. Young “Diagnosis – Internet Addiction” provides statistics based on survey data. It shows that about 54% of Internet addicts are not going to reduce their time spent online, knowing that it is harmful to their health and psyche. Some of them think that they will no longer be able to get rid of this bad habit. The remaining 46% tried to get rid of addiction, but were unsuccessful. At first they tried to limit the time they could spend on the Internet, but they were unable to control themselves, then they threw away modems, cut wires, but after a while they found themselves online again, realizing that they could not live without the Internet.

Constantly being on social networks is not the best activity for our brain. This cannot be called some kind of full-fledged mental work. A person simply spends his free time aimlessly; instead, he could, for example, read a book or go out with friends. When looking through friends' news feeds or their photos, a person does it quickly and does not really think about the incoming flow of information.

Also, by publicly posting information about yourself, for example, a mobile phone number, your age, address, personal photographs, a person can fall into the trap of scammers. Attackers can hack your account and get the information they need from your correspondence with your parents, friends or acquaintances.

Despite all the negative aspects of being on social networks, there are positive aspects. But first of all, you need to know when to stop and use it wisely. There is nothing wrong with meeting and communicating with new people on social networks; you can find like-minded people and chat on general topics, find your relatives, listen to music or watch movies. Communication on the Internet can increase a person’s self-esteem and importance. The main thing is not to forget that this is only secondary communication, and the main thing is communication in real life.

In conclusion, it should be noted that social networks are taking up more and more of young people’s time; they are replacing real communication and hobbies. Despite the fact that there are positive aspects, it should be noted that social networks most often have a bad effect on studies and the learning process itself, but there are exceptions. Therefore, you should control the amount of time you spend on the Internet; it is important to know the boundary and not cross it, otherwise it will turn against you.

List of sources:

1. Nesterova G.V. The influence of the Internet and social networks on young people (using the example of students of Yerevan State University named after I.A. Bunin).[Electronic resource] - Access mode –URL
Shumakova E.V. Educational space of social networks of the Internet // Vocational education. Capital. - 2011. - No. 6.

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