Digital Technologies And Their Impact On Values In The Context Of Education

Abstract

The article deals with the digital technologies influencing the formation of spiritual and moral values ​​in the educational system of the Russian Federation, discusses the transformation of the educational system under the influence of digitalization. It examines the socialization, forms and methods of virtual interactions of subjects, and posits the following questions: What values ​​of modern virtual communities can be formed by the Internet communication? Does the virtual space of the Internet really change and transform our values? The article shows that a teacher's role is currently becoming more complicated. The teacher has a responsibility not only to teach, but also to explain which sources of information are useful and which are harmful. The article describes negative consequences caused by overuse of digital technologies, such as clip thinking, mosaic consciousness, and gamer consciousness, which turns out to be shallow and short, incapable of long thoughts. The authors suggest looking for new approaches to the learning process, one of which is the implementation of Christian and humanistic concepts of good and evil, morality and immorality, etc. At the same time, the growing impact of digital technologies also has positive aspects, such as greater accessibility of knowledge, the quick access to new information, personal self-expression.

Keywords: Digital technologies, education, industrial society, information society, social changes

Introduction

Modern society has reached a new level of its development, which is characterized in the categories of digitalization, technologization, globalization, regionalization, etc. Representing the stage of the information society, the “digital” society has a significant difference from societies with different methods of industrialization. If the industrial society was characterized by a system of values ​​and spiritual guidelines, clearly established and defining the foundations of life, then the information society is characterized by a rapid dynamics of value guidelines, including spiritual ones (Ananina, 2019, p. 283).

The globalization processes in the modern world have affected modern Russian society due to the influence of the media and Internet. Social changes in Russian society are partially determined by the influence of digital technologies on the educational system. The activities of social institutions that set development vectors for the coming decades are being transformed under the aforementioned influence. The educational system, which coordinates the conditions for the development of spiritual and moral values ​​of modern society is undergoing transformation (Machekhina, 2017). The question of the need for theoretical, applied and empirical research in social philosophy and determining the role of digitalization processes in the formation of spiritual and moral values ​​in the educational system of the Russian Federation is relevant and valid (Molchan, 2019, p. 55).

Problem Statement

Digitalization has become the most important criterion for the development of a particular country or people. With the development of digitalization of economic and educational processes, social relations of the individual have moved into virtualized social interaction, which is more accessible, does not require additional efforts, leaves an imprint on social relations, changing behavioral stereotypes and values ​​of social systems, and is increasingly preferred to the communication in real life.

Research Questions

The study of digitalization processes allows us to examine the socialization, forms and methods of virtual interactions of subjects, which posits the following questions. What values ​​of modern virtual communities can be formed by the Internet communication? Does the virtual space of the Internet really change and transform our values? Considering these issues, it is necessary to analyze the process of digitalization of social space and determine the role of the individual in this activity (Molchan, 2019, p. 55).

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of this study is to determine the impact of digital technologies on approaches to teaching in Russian universities.

Research Methods

Digital information technology operates at speeds beyond the reach of the human brain. The speed of meaning formation has reached such a level that the presentation of meanings is not required to leave traces of such a presentation (in forms of Internet communication such as Snapchat). The viewer, listener, and reader are not required to have long thoughts, reasoning and understanding, but only to react - to press the available buttons (“like, ban, and buy”). Clip thinking and mosaic consciousness turns into a gamer consciousness before our eyes, into a reaction to a situation set by a certain algorithm. At the same time, emotional experience is associated with a direct, quick, automatic reaction to the situation, which can be qualified as one of the aspects of the “new animality”, about which Horkheimer and Adorno (1997) wrote earlier, and Agamben (2012) has written presently. Such a consciousness turns out to be shallow and short, incapable of long thoughts. A stream of data, images without narrative are all that is held in memory. This consciousness turns out to be incapable not only of identifying cause-and-effect relationships, but also of simply tracing the sequence of events. The empathy is short-lived, unstable, comes and goes in flashes, forgettable (Tulchinskiy, 2020). The past and the future collapse in the stream of the present. For such a gamer, mosaic, or snapchat consciousness, spiritual growth is not experienced and socialization obviously becomes incomplete. And the consciousness incapable of reflection turns out to be an ideal object of manipulation, often moving from the on-line format to the off-line mode.

Findings

The Internet is a virtual space of various cultures that forms the values ​​of the prevailing communities. Virtual culture and subcultures converse with each other. The subject of interaction searches for that community that he can identify himself with. There is an influence of the virtual space on the self-determination of the subject in the context of a variety of value orientations. The virtual Internet space creates opportunities for instant access to an unlimited number of resources, for the development and training of a person, the acquisition of new friends and acquaintances, like-minded people. Digitalization of education is an integral part of the training of modern specialist (Frolova et al., 2020). However, the reverse side of the virtual space is the loss of spiritual and moral values ​​of the real world in the consciousness and life of a person, weakening of real-life communication, immersion in the virtual world of phantoms and mythical objects. There is a substitution of real values ​​with imaginary ones, a misunderstanding of the values ​​of good, a withdrawal into the world of evil and demonization of consciousness, into virtual play activities, and the destruction of moral attitudes. As a result, the question of preparing the subject of interaction on the Internet arises.

Before entering and using the virtual Internet space, it is necessary to master and gain the experience of real life social space. This will allow one to adequately assess the proposed models and algorithms for the behavior of the Internet space. The virtual space is a hierarchy of artificial algorithms and models. The immersion of a person with unformed life values ​​and attitudes in a virtual space will lead to the reprogramming of his consciousness and dependence on virtuality. At the moment, virtual Internet addiction in modern society is observed as quite often (Molchan, 2019, p. 56).

The virtual Internet space changes the perceptions of a person, creating an imaginary world of illusions and values by transposing social systems into virtual reality, eroding feelings of compassion and empathy, the hierarchical structure of values. There is a passive perception of the real life, dominated by thoughts of returning to the virtual world, the Internet space becomes more essential than reality. A person becomes addicted to the Internet, real communication causes dissatisfaction with the surrounding life. Internet addiction is characterized by an obsessive need for checking in with virtual acquaintances and endlessly surfing the web (Molchan, 2019, p.58).

The increasing flow of information gives the effect of strengthening its impact, or the so-called synergistic, nonlinear effect, which, on the one hand, can lead to unpredictable global problems, on the other hand, it makes possible the development of spiritual and moral values ​​of the individual. The Internet and other means of integration of the world community create a new virtual reality and, fundamentally changing the meaning of socio-cultural communications, bring with them a new system of values, as a result of which the world of human values ​​changes, his attitude to the world around him. This turned the personality towards a reassessment of world values ​​and formed new requirements for the culture of consumption. The predominance of virtual space in the interaction of society has a significant impact on the process of transferring information, changing the social and cultural systems of society. The speed of impact on the social life of the society of the virtual world is enormous, and the state and modern society are not ready for such transformations. The streams of harmful and antisocial information falling on a person and society undermine the process of socialization of the individual and the formation of spiritual and moral values ​​of society in the Russian educational system (Molchan, 2019, p. 65).

Currently, the virtual world of sites, chats, forums, social networks is becoming the leading source of information on the most pressing issues for young people. Therefore, the problem of the direct influence of the Internet on the spiritual and moral values ​​of today's youth has arisen.

In the modern world, with such a rapid development of information technologies, there is a global reassessment of moral values ​​in the minds of modern youth, which cannot but cause certain fears.

At the moment, there is a powerful information flow from the global Internet, which is not controlled by any national security system. This information flow involves the insufficiently formed consciousness and the fragile souls of our youth. Young people are open to the whole world, ready to adopt the cultural and social experience of the whole world, with all its positive and negative influence. In this information flow, it is important to learn how to select the information you need and remember that the global Internet offers access to all the wealth and diversity of the cultural and historical heritage of mankind (Strokov, 2020).

Let's try to highlight the positive and negative influence of the Internet on the moral values ​​of a young individual. In order to become a full-fledged, successful member of modern society, a representative of the younger generation, one cannot do without the ability to navigate the global information space and use all its resources and enormous opportunities (Karakozov & Ryzhova, 2019). It is impossible to overestimate the need for the Internet in our lives. This is the key positive aspect of the Internet's emergence in our lives.

At the same time, the negative impact of the Internet on the moral qualities of young people cannot be ignored.

The main dangers that children and adolescents can face every day on the Internet are as follows:

1. "Cyberbullying" or "trolling".

2. Propaganda of anti-social, extremist behavior, suicides, involvement in dangerous games.

3. Cyber ​​fraud.

4. Theft of personal data.

5. Illegal collection of personal photos of minors and their dissemination in the public domain.

6. Minors viewing sites for adults.

The head of the Center for the Protection of Children from Internet Threats, Vladimir Rogov, believes that the main Internet threat is the manipulative and ideological recruitment of children into various movements, the meaning of which is an attempt to tear children away from their environment (parents, friends), and groom them.

It is of great concern that there is an active propaganda of content that distorts the spiritual and moral values ​​of young people. This leads to cases of involving children in "death groups", which leads to childhood suicides.

The moral values ​​of the younger generation are currently under threat of transformation with completely unpredictable consequences for society as a whole and for the state. The simplest concepts, such as love, mutual respect, honesty, dignity, patriotism, loyalty, altruism, hard work, respect for elders, are not in trend among modern youth, therefore these concepts need protection, nurture and cultivation.

The introduction of digital technologies should not harm the spiritual values ​​of a person, which are laid down in the works of many authors who have created fundamental works containing the rules for the moral development of the human person. Morality is the inner spiritual values ​​that a person is guided by. The basic moral values ​​for every person around the world are such concepts as honesty, dignity, patriotism, loyalty, altruism, hard work, respect for elders, as shown is the works of Indian, Chinese, and Finnish scholars (Chi-Kin Lee, 2020; Mertala, 2020; Nazam & Husain, 2019). It is important to convey these concepts to everyone. The role of the word and language is crucial here. At all times, the significance of a word, conveying its meaning to a person remains relevant. Language reflects this world and forms a person and the world around him (Ter-Minasova, 2011, p. 96).

Nevertheless, as the Internet and computer technologies enter our life, less and less space is left for the word, its influence on the human soul. There are many texts that do not have artistic value and meaning, the so-called "light" literature, advertising slogans, where often there is no logical conclusion of thought, there is no complete message about this or that fact, as a result, there are no texts that would carry a value principle. Thus, under the influence of various external factors, the devaluation of the word occurs.

There are themes that are universal to every culture and nationality. These include the role of the word, its influence on human life. This topic is the subject of a series of stories by the Serbian writer Goran Petrovic, published under the general title "Island and other stories" (Petrovich, 2006). Behind the fantastic content of his works, one can see the value attitudes of the author. One of them is verbalized by the negative conceptual sign of word depletion. In a grotesque, metaphorical form, the writer describes the negative aspects of this process: “The city bustle engulfed him from the very first steps. Stubs of voices, rancid chunks of conversation and wormy chatter piled up from everywhere. Endless complaints drifted sadly. Shouts of thanks were deafening. Worthless vows... ” (Petrovich, 2006, p. 66). The author urges us to be vigilant. The evaluative component is constantly present in the text, makes the reader not be indifferent to the world around us, to take care of it. The word for the writer is important, it should convey to the reader his thoughts, hopes and ultimately serve the world in our land. This is the main thing that worries the writer and what he wants to convey to his readers. The writer's word awakens the spirit of love and friendship in the readers.

It is necessary to draw the attention of young people to the books of writers and artists that touch upon issues of morality, revival and development of spirituality in human society. The founder of scientific pedagogy in Russia K. D. Ushinsky (as cited in Pirogov, 1952) said:

For us, non-Christian pedagogy is an inconceivable thing, an enterprise without motives behind and without results ahead. What a person should be, fully expressed in Divine teaching and upbringing, it remains only to put the eternal truths of Christianity. Christianity serves as the source of all light and all truth and indicates the highest goal of all education. It is an inextinguishable torch that goes on forever, like a pillar of fire in the desert - in front of man and nations. (p. 59)

Knowledge of Christian laws is one of the factors that can push the upbringing and education of the younger generation in the right direction (Gazman, 1995, p. 26). A Russian philosopher Ilyin (2017) wrote, “Education without upbringing is a false and dangerous thing. It creates most often people half-educated, arrogant and arrogant, vain debaters, assertive and shameless careerists; it arms the anti-spiritual forces; it unleashes and encourages the "wolf" in a person" (p. 23). Spiritual and moral education of student youth on Christian values ​​creates favorable conditions for the formation of a highly qualified specialist.

This provision is rooted in the history of Russian university education. Russian teacher Ilminskiy said, “Not everyone can be an artist, scientist, even a craftsman, and not everyone should be; but, everyone can be and everyone must be a good person, i.e. moral, honest, kind and religious. Good morality is the basis on which every specialty, scientific, craft, and the like, receives a special strength and value. Let them become a good person first, and then on this basis they will become a good professional” (as cited in Slobodchikov, 2005, p. 14). Our society is now looking for ways to recreate a system of education of student youth based on the spiritual and moral values.

Conclusion

Professional training should become only a part of the education system, the core of which should be spiritual and moral education. The content, methods and technologies of spiritual and moral education in the university should be amended. They should be based on the spiritual and moral values and aimed at helping young people in their personal and professional development.

References

• Agamben, D. (2012). Discovery: man and animal. RGGU Publishing.

• Ananina, E. D. (2019). Compassion in the system of spiritual guidelines of Russians in the context of digitalization of society. In T. I. Grabel′nykh (Ed.), Transformation of society in the modern era. Collection of scientific papers (pp. 283-288). Izd-vo «Ottisk». Retrieved from http://socio.isu.ru/ru/sociolab/docs/Sbornik-Transformaciya-socialnogo-mira-v-sovremennuyu-epohu.pdf

• Chi-Kin Lee, J. (2020). Children’s spirituality, life and values education: cultural, spiritual and educational perspectives, International Journal of Children's Spirituality, 25(1), 1-8. DOI: 10.1080/1364436X.2020.1790774

• Frolova, E. V., Rogach, O. V., & Ryabova, T. M. (2020). Digitalization of Education in Modern Scientific Discourse: New Trends and Risks Analysis. European journal of contemporary education, 9(2), 313-336. Retrieved from https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1262557

• Gazman, O. S. (1995). Novyye tsennosti obrazovaniya: soderzhaniye gumanisticheskogo obrazovaniya [New values in education:the content of humanistic education]. Innovator.

• Horkheymer, M., & Adorno, T. V. (1997). Dialectic of enlightenment. Medium, Yuventa.

• Ilyin, I. A. (2017) The road to openness. Dar.

• Karakozov, S. D., & Ryzhova, N. I. (2019). Information and education systems in the context of digitalization of education. Journal of Siberian Federal University. Humanities and social sciences. 12(9), 1635-1647. Retrieved from http://journal.sfu-kras.ru/en/number/125579

• Machekhina, O. N. (2017). Digitalization of education as a trend of its modernization and reforming. Revista Espacios, 38(40). http://www.revistaespacios.com/a17v38n40/17384026.html

• Mertala, P. (2020). Paradoxes of participation in the digitalization of education: A narrative account. Learning, Media and Technology, 45(2), 179-192.

  Google Scholar

  Crossref

• Molchan, E. M. (2019). The impact of digitalization on the formation of spiritual and moral values of subjects of interaction in the era of globalization. Bulletin of the Moscow State Regional University. Series: philosophical sciences, 2, 55-66. DOI:

  Google Scholar

  Crossref

• Nazam, F., & Husain, A. (2016). Exploring Spiritual Values among School Children. International Journal of School and Cognitive Psychology, 3, 175. DOI:

  Google Scholar

  Crossref

• Petrovich, G. (2006). Ostrov i okrestnyye rasskazy [History of the island and the surrounding area]. Amfora.

• Pirogov, N. I. (1952). Izbrannyye pedagogicheskiye sochineniya [Selected pedagogical essays]. VGBIL im. M. I. Rudomino.

• Slobodchikov, V. I. (1986). Psychological problems of the formation of the inner world of a person. Voprosy psikhologii, 6, 14-22.

• Strokov, A. А. (2020). Digitalization of education: problems and prospects. Vestnik of Minin University, 8(2), 15. DOI: 10.26795/2307-1281-2020-8-2-15

• Ter-Minasova, S. G. (2011). Soyuz nerushimyy yazyka i kul′tury: problematika mezhkul′turnoy kommunikatsii v teorii i praktike prepodavaniya RKI ["An unbreakable union" of language and culture: the problem of intercultural communication in the theory and practice of teaching Russian as a foreign language]. Russian language abroad, 11, 93-97.

• Tulchinskiy, G. L. (2020). Mezhdistsiplinarnyy potentsial sotsial′noy semiotiki i antropologiya tsifrovizatsii [Interdisciplinary potential of social semiotics and anthropology of digitalization]. In G. L. Tul′chinskiy (Ed.), Sotsial′naya semiotika: tochki rosta [Social semiotics: points of growth] (pp. 12-18). Skifiya-print.