Social Networks and the Readiness of Young People to Realize Themselves in a Digital Society

The article examines the influence of time spent in social networks on the formation of digital competencies of young people. 807 high school students and students of Nizhny Novgorod universities took part in the survey. The study identified three groups of young people depending on the time spent on social networks: the first group tries to limit the time spent on the Internet, including on social networks; the second group spends several hours a day on social networks; the third group spends all their free time on social networks. It is revealed that the second group is the most successful in the formation of digital competencies. She has higher rates of computer program proficiency and skills in using spreadsheets in analytics, speaks more often about the experience of creating computer products, has experience of remote work at home, actively uses the public services website. The first group feels constrained in the digital reality, which affects the low level of mastering digital competencies in the process of growing up. The third group also demonstrates low indicators of the formation of digital competencies, which is associated with dependence on social networks and an emphasis on satisfying hedonistic needs.

1. Grishaeva S.A., Klyuvaev K.V. Kommunikativnye praktiki molo­dezhi v sotsial’nykh setyakh [Communicative practices of young peo­ple in social networks]// Tsifrovaya sotsiologiya = Digital sociology, 2019, Vol. 2, no. 3, pp. 4–9. DOI: 10.26425/2658-347X-2019-3-4-9. (In Russ.).
2. Il’icheva I.M., Syrkin L.D., Lyapin A.S. Sotsial’nye seti kak sredovoi faktor formirovaniya lichnosti uchashchegosya v kontekste profilak­tiki sotsial’no opasnykh yavlenii [Social networks as an environ­mental factor of students’ personality development in the context of preventing negative social phenomena] // Psikhologo-pedagogich­eskii poisk = Psychological and pedagogical search, 2019, no. 3 (51), pp. 143–151. (In Russ.).
3. Larionova E.Yu. Sotsial’nye seti i sotsial’nye problem [Social media and social problems] // Nauchnyi daidzhest Vostochno-Sibirskogo in­stituta MVD Rossii = Scientific digest of the East Siberian Institute of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, 2020, no. 6(9), pp. 274–278. (In Russ.).
4. Mikheev E.A. Otnoshenie lichnosti k dezinformatsii v prostranstve sotsial’nykh setyakh kak sotsial’no psikhologicheskii fenomen [Per­sonality’s attitude to misinformation in social networks as a social and psychological phenomenon] // Mir psikhologii = The world of psychology, 2019, no. 2(98), pp. 120–130. (In Russ.).
5. Semenova T.V., Kuksgauzen A.A., Zrazhevskaya E.O. K voprosu ob internet-zavisimosti u molodezhi [To the issue of internet addiction of youth] // Sotsial’nye i dukhovnye osnovaniya sushchestvovaniya cheloveka v sovremennom obshchestve. Sbornik nauchnykh trudov. Saratov, 2018, pp. 160–170. (In Russ.).
6. Soldatova G.U., et al. Tsifrovaya kompetentnost’ podrostkov i rodite­lei. Rezul’taty Vserossiiskogo issledovaniya. [Digital competence of adolescents and parents. Results of the Russian study.] Moscow: Fond razvitiya Internet, 2013, pp. 144. (In Russ.).
7. Digital 2020: Global Digital Overview [Elektronnyi resurs]. Avail­able at: https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2020-global-digi­tal-overview (Accessed 18.07.2021)