Individual and personal characteristics of digital socialization in a changing world

During the conference "Personality Psychology: Cultural practices of human potential development", we presented the results of a practical longitudinal study of individual and personal characteristics of digital socialization at the section "Personality stability in a fragile and changeable world". While studying the digital identity of adolescents and young people in an environment of transitivity and modern technological society, it is as important to examine the external conditions in which they develop, as it is to study internal factors (areas of their interests, values, hobbies, significant structures of the information space, personal characteristics) of information socialization (Andreeva, 2022; Martsinkovskaya, 2020; Martsinkovskaya, Preobrazhenskaya, 2020).

The purpose of the report is to show empirical data on individual and personal characteristics of the identity style of users and the peculiarities of perception and processing of information obtained during a longitudinal study. We would also like to present a comparative analysis of the leading way of user perception over the past ten years.

Several series of studies have been conducted. More than 300 people participated in the study. The respondents were divided into two age groups – young people, from 16 to 27 years old (N = 285) and middle-aged people from 27 to 50 years old (N = 80). The data obtained for 2012, 2016 and 2023 have been compared. The data acquired in 2012, 2016 and 2023 have been compared. The second series of the study was devoted to comparing data related to the perception of the current situation.

Changes in the ways of information perception and processing have been revealed. For example, the results obtained have shown that compared to 2012 there are now 3.5 times more people who perceive and process information in a digital way. The digital way of acquiring information is being interiorized. The relationship between digital identity and commitment scale and digital modality has been established. Commitment helps to navigate the constantly changing information flow while the digital way of perceiving and processing information helps to collect information and build an effective strategy for its processing, systematize it and apply it. An overabundance of information affects the degree of user confidence in the information received, and the scale of commitment is also growing, which reflects the degree to which a person is inclined to adhere to their views or, on the contrary, constantly change them. Many users face a lack of meaning, understanding, and trust.

The study of the peculiarities of perception and attitude to the digital space of users allows us to state that for users with an information identity style, the current situation is considered as new opportunities and a rethinking of values and personal meanings. There is also a trend in self-development and rebuilding their relationships with the digital space, in particular with social networks and messengers. For users with a normative identity style, the current situation is associated with limitations and difficulties.