Digital Literacy and Network Communications: a sociological dimension

Based on the concept of digital turn in sociology proposed by Professor S.Kravchenko, the authors use the example of specific sociological studies of Russian research centers to conduct a correlation analysis between the digital literacy of the population and its activity in social network communications. Network communications of the population in digital format displace analog formats and contribute to active digital transformations in society as a whole. Digital literacy is considered as an integral indicator that includes information, technical, communication and innovation components. In addition to age and gender differentiation, the level of digital literacy is also influenced by settlement and territorial factors, confirming the existence of an urgent problem of digital inequality. The situation with the ethical side of information literacy is also not clear. This indicator shows how deeply a person reflects on the information found and used. The mass transition to digital technologies observed and actively implemented in the last few years, including their application in network communications, increases not only the innovative, spatial and technological, but also the cognitive distance between generations, not only within the framework of family and interpersonal communications, but also on the scale of industrial, industry and institutional interactions. In today’s digital world, the structural elements of social networks include platforms, online services, or websites designed to build, reflect, and organize people’s social connections. It is the presence of an almost limitless number of information exchanges in social networks that forms a certain system of cybernetic power (cyber power). Cyber power is a complex system of resources structured around the production, exchange, and control of digital information. The cyber power is gradually transformed into a powerful hegemony, i.e., the power of the Internet. a superpower that is not limited to controlling purely cybernetic resources that include structural levels of cyberspace. Not only the communication system is changing, but also the way of thinking, which is becoming an actual subject of research not only for sociologists and psychologists, but also for representatives of many related scientific fields. The concept of a digital turn in sociology, which assumes a humanistic basis for the ongoing transformations, could become a methodological basis for a comprehensive study of the social aspects and consequences of digitalization of modern society.

digitalization, digital turn in sociology, digital literacy, network communications

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