Internet Communication: Achievements And Threats

Internet communication and information socialization

The problem of information technologies and their impact on all aspects of people's lives and activities is currently one of the leading for many scientific disciplines - from biology and physics, to cultural studies and sociology. This problem also occupies a great place in psychological research, with the leading role being given to electronic media, mainly the Internet. Internet communications and virtual interaction are especially significant in a modern transitive society. Communication can occur between people who are not only in different parts of the globe, but also in different time spaces.

The relevance of the study of information socialization is also associated with the fact that in the modern world the role of information and information impact on the motivation and behavior of people of all ages is constantly increasing. It was this fact that allowed scientists to talk about the emergence of the "information society" and the "information culture". In the context of the problem of the information society, the influence of the socialization impact (both positive and negative) of information, the characteristics of this effect on people of different ages living in different social spaces is currently being studied.

Since the data obtained in recent decades are extremely contradictory and ambiguous, the study of the specifics of Internet communication remains at the center of attention of researchers in different countries. Toffler's (1980) once arguably well-known thesis that not only and not so much information, but specific communication will become the semantic core of a new, informational era, today no longer needs proof. There is no doubt that the information received by people is related to their social perceptions, since attitudes affect, as a kind of “selective attention”, the choice of both the source and content of the information. At the same time, the perceived information itself influences the existing system of concepts, changing and / or partially modifying it.

Of particular interest in this regard are the electronic media, both in terms of the method of presenting the material, and in terms of a deeper impact on the personality of the recipients (Bernd et al., 2006; Van Dellen & Hoyle, 2008). Today, issues related to the study of age and territorial characteristics of Internet communication and Internet preferences are being updated. In studies conducted in recent years, much attention is also paid to the analysis of the information space in terms of its impact on the social stratification of various, mainly youth, groups. This important factor of information socialization has not yet been sufficiently studied, although even a superficial analysis of TV users and such network communities as Facebook and VKontakte shows the presence of both age and social and regional differences.

In the works of Voiskunsky et al. (2014), Belinskaya (2013), Golubeva (2018) it is shown that over the past fifteen years, there has been a constant decrease in the age of “computer initiation” throughout the world. As noted by Voiskunsky et al. (2014) and Belinskaya (2013), this trend is also typical for Russian teenagers, and more and more teenagers are becoming active Internet users, not only in big cities, but also in regions and in small settlements.

Speaking about the process of information socialization, it is necessary to emphasize the importance of information resocialization that is, finding new ways and means of obtaining and working with information by mature and elderly people. This issue is of great importance from the point of view of their vision of the world, their general socialization, as well as from the point of view of communication, interaction and conflicts of people of different age cohorts, who use and relate differently to print and electronic media.

Media and the Internet as a new development space

Recent studies have convincingly proved that the media are becoming one of the leading institutions of socialization (Belinskaya, 2013; Golubeva, 2018; Marsinkovskaya, 2015). At the same time, over the past three years, the degree of criticality of adolescents and youth in relation to information obtained from TV has significantly increased. This criticality applies to all types of information - advertising, entertainment, news. At the same time, confidence in information received from the Internet has not diminished.

Another point that we need to pay attention to is that for a large group of teenagers and young people, the Internet is not only the entertainment, but also a way of obtaining information and even learning. This phenomenon has already touched even preschoolers who are actively starting to use lap-tops in the learning process. Scientists, parents and teachers note that preschoolers easily master sophisticated electronic technology; navigate the gaming computer space in educational and developmental programs. This proves the need for a close study of the influence of all types of information, as well as virtual methods of communication, on the mental development of modern people.

It Golubeva’s (2018) research was showed that the choice of media and the information world of adolescents of the same age differ significantly among adolescents living in different countries. Personal communication for adolescents who have moved to a small town in Germany is one of the dominant values, unlike Russian children, for whom it is significant, but not the leading motivation and can be carried out in virtual space.

Numerous data also showed that a small settlement, regardless of the country, lags significantly behind big cities in the overall development of the information space. It is manifested in a smaller variety of choices and less access to the proposed information fields compared to megacities and affects information preferences and, accordingly, the content of information socialization of adolescents.

Of great importance for understanding the psychological characteristics of Internet communication and the psychological characteristics of Internet users are the works of Belinskaya (2013), in which, in particular, emphasizes that empirical data on the personality characteristics of active Internet users are extremely contradictory. Extremely significant is the fact that there is a lack of consistency between empirical data and estimates of the users themselves on the relationship between business, cognitive-informational and communicative motives for using the Internet. If researchers give the first place to information, then users prefer communications.

One of the most serious problems today is the study of the role of information and social spaces in the development of the personality of children and adolescents (Bernd et al., 2006; Martsinkovskaya, 2019). Territorial identity and the ratio of social and personal spaces have a great influence on all aspects of mental development, although the nature of this influence has changed somewhat in recent years. Particularly pronounced differences between the youth of megacities (primarily Moscow) and small cities are manifested in the content of needs, identity and attitude towards the media. The hierarchy of needs of young people from the big city is dominated by career, self-realization, respect of others, while their peers from the small city are dominated by conformity, respect for traditions, happiness. There are differences in the content of identity among adolescents and youths living in small cities and big towns. For young people from a small city, social roles, group affiliation, reflexivity are priority, while for teenagers and young men from a big city, individual and personal qualities, their own independence and autonomy are important.

Extremely significant are the results showing that even compared to students, school-children are much more committed to the individualistic standard of life than to collectivism. At the same time, a small difference in the responses of older and middle-aged teenagers shows, firstly, the general tendency of the formation of an individual (individualistic) lifestyle, and secondly, the correspondence of this style to development goals, especially in older adolescents.

The materials available today allow us to conclude that the relevance of further research on the problem of information socialization is associated with the great potential of institutions and groups located in this field of socialization impact. No less important is the fact that many types of information can influence not only the lifestyle choices of children, adolescents and youth, but also their ideas about themselves and the world. That’s why the emergence of fears associated with the expanding role of Internet communication in their lives must became one of the prominent investigations.

The image of the active user

Common features in the image of an active user for professionals and non-professionals in the field of IT technologies are related to solving problems arising during the use: they attribute the ability to solve them quickly, independently and efficiently, regardless of the degree of their novelty. The difference is that non-professionals attribute to the active user the lack of fear of any difficulties and problems associated with use and the presence of some “intuitive” knowledge, while professionals believe that the high efficiency of the active user is based on his technical competence. Perhaps, age-related differences which characterize the image of an advanced user are also associated with this. Non-professionals see active user as primarily a young (up to 30 years) person, while professionals, noting the high speed of mastering technical skills in a younger generations, rather than themselves, nevertheless believe that activity in the development of Internet use does not depend on age, but rather is the result of certain personal qualities (perseverance and self-discipline). Interestingly, the respondents of both subgroups do not note the gender specificity of this image, which seems to reflect a really equal ratio of men and women in active use.

The main fears

Both groups of respondents have a fear of intentionally stealing personal information, but if for IT professionals this is mainly financial information that cybercriminals can use for personal enrichment, then non-professionals connect fears with their personal correspondence, photos, contacts, suspecting such violation of the confidentiality with "anyone who might need it." At the same time, professionals, using self-defense measures, admit their possible insufficiency and recognize their vulnerability, unlike non-professionals. It is interesting that both subgroups of respondents consider their fears to be “optimal”, attributing the younger generation (than themselves) of the users more carelessness and the absence of any fears, and the older one - excessive caution and the presence of more negative emotional experiences, including “the life experience". The second most frequent fear of respondents - the possibility of delayed use of “Internet tracks” left by them by subjects of various levels: from government to small blackmailers. The differences between the groups are that non-professionals are largely characterized by the fear of the global disappearance of the possibility of Internet use - due, for example, to technological disasters.

Attribution of the reasons for their own vulnerability

The main difference between the subgroups is the nature of the causal attribution of their own vulnerability in an active use situation. For IT professionals, it has a pronounced internal character: regardless of the specifics of the fears (from fears to suffer from financial scammers to fears that their careless statements will be used by the authorities and special services of the country against them), they tend to attribute the reasons for their vulnerability to themselves. At the same time, the internal inconsistency of this position is interesting: objectively mastering various technological methods for protecting personal information, actively using them in everyday life and differentially perceiving various risks of active use, they nevertheless consider themselves ultimately defenseless, claiming that “if you have something to hide, it’s easier not to approach the computer”, “in order to defend oneself one must always be rational, but a person will always remain a weak link”. In contrast, non-professionals have an external nature of attribution of the causes of their own vulnerability, believing that the main reasons for their insecurity are related to the malicious behavior of other people. It is interesting that, given the attribution of the causes of vulnerability to other age cohorts, the noted trends are amplified: IT professionals consider the younger and older generations vulnerable due to their correspondingly lower reasonableness and non-professionals because of their greater attractiveness to various scammers.

Subjects of threats and subjects of protection

It should be noted that when answering this block of questions, the respondents of both subgroups were almost unanimous. The most frequent answers about possible subjects of threats were indications of financial fraudsters and representatives of state authorities; other options (for example, companies with marketing tasks) were much less common. The answers to the question about possible subjects of protection in general reflected the willingness of respondents of both subgroups to attribute responsibility to themselves, provided that in the case of non-professionals the desire “to seek help from specialists”, which, however, was not specified in any way. Another difference was the high willingness of IT professionals to take responsibility for protecting the older generation of active users.