Informatization and gadgetization of modern society and childhood

Inna A. Isako­va 
Nation­al Research Lobachevsky State Uni­ver­si­ty of Nizh­ni Nov­gorod
Ali­na L. Yanak
Nation­al Research Lobachevsky State Uni­ver­si­ty of Nizh­ni Nov­gorod

Informa­ti­za­tion and gad­geti­za­tion of mod­ern soci­ety and child­hood

Abstract. This arti­cle con­sid­ers the process­es of informa­ti­za­tion and gad­geti­za­tion of soci­ety and child­hood. The study aims to describe major trends and effects of inte­grat­ing infor­ma­tion and tech­no­log­i­cal com­po­nents into dai­ly, fam­i­ly, social, indus­tri­al, eco­nom­ic, polit­i­cal and cul­tur­al prac­tices. The research objec­tives are to elu­ci­date the direc­tions of these process­es, iden­ti­fy and describe their pos­i­tive and neg­a­tive impacts on mod­ern soci­ety. The authors place par­tic­u­lar empha­sis on chil­dren as the most mobile (“quick­ly absorb­ing” trends and inno­va­tions) and, along with it, vul­ner­a­ble socio-demo­graph­ic group, less adap­tive than adults. The paper presents the con­clu­sions from top­ic stud­ies (some involv­ing par­tic­i­pa­tion of the authors) con­duct­ed by means of soci­o­log­i­cal sur­veys and in-depth inter­views. The results demon­strate that informa­ti­za­tion and gad­geti­za­tion are actu­al and rel­e­vant process­es, though frag­men­tar­i­ly stud­ied. Along with it, they appear very ambigu­ous. Their pos­i­tive impacts include increased oppor­tu­ni­ties for self-real­iza­tion, self-pre­sen­ta­tion, and ful­fill­ment of cog­ni­tive needs, as well as grow­ing resources and mobil­i­ty. As for the neg­a­tive influ­ence, it embraces a con­stant infor­ma­tion flow (some­times destruc­tive to health) requir­ing new infor­ma­tion fil­ter­ing skills; updat­ing of the infor­ma­tion secu­ri­ty prob­lem; a clip, frag­men­tary, and super­fi­cial char­ac­ter of the younger gen­er­a­tions’ think­ing; replace­ment of actu­al social con­nec­tions and iden­ti­ties by vir­tu­al ones; trans­for­ma­tion of sta­tus attrib­ut­es, etc. The authors con­clude that in the era of dig­i­tal tech­nol­o­gy it is adults’ respon­si­bil­i­ty to ori­ent and edu­cate chil­dren. Par­ents need to exer­cise a flex­i­ble chil­dren con­trol by help­ing tem through infor­ma­tion reflec­tion, being atten­tive to their needs and inter­ests, and con­struct­ing sen­si­tive, trust­ing, emo­tion­al­ly intense rela­tion­ships.

Key­words: informa­ti­za­tion, infor­ma­tion soci­ety, gad­get, child­hood, child­hood gad­geti­za­tion, social net­works, infor­ma­tion secu­ri­ty

DOI: 10.5840/dspl20192114

Acknowl­edge­ments
The report­ed study was fund­ed by RFBR accord­ing to the research project №18–311-00348 “Trans­for­ma­tion of child-par­ent rela­tions in the era of informa­ti­za­tion of soci­ety.”

Ref­er­ences:

  1. Fed­er­al­nyy zakon ot 29.12.2010. N436-FZ “O zash­chite detey ot infor­mat­sii, prichinyayushchey vred ikh zdorovyu” [Fed­er­al Law dat­ed 12/29/2010 no. 436-FZ “On Pro­tec­tion of Chil­dren from Infor­ma­tion Destruc­tive to Their Health”], Kon­sul­tant­Plyus / “Con­sul­tant Plus”. Avail­able at: http://www.consultant.ru/document/ cons_doc_LAW_108808/ (accessed on Octo­ber 11, 2018). (In Russ­ian)
  2. Ari­ani, H.B, Per­mana, G. Wise­ly Using Gad­get for Par­ents in Fam­i­ly Envi­ron­ment Cam­paign Design, 4th Ban­dung Cre­ative Move­ment Inter­na­tion­al Con­fer­ence on Cre­ative Indus­tries, 2017, vol. 41, pp. 331–334. DOI: 10.2991/bcm-17.2018.64.
  3. Bara­no­va, N. Mirovye dig­i­tal-trendy: kak inter­net raspros­tranyaet­sya po zem­no­mu sharu [World Dig­i­tal Trends: How the Inter­net Spreads Around the Globe], Teplit­sa sot­sial­nykh tekhnologiy, 16 Feb­ru­ary 2017. Avail­able at: https://te-st.ru/2017/02/16/global-digital-trends-2017/ (accessed on Octo­ber 25, 2018). (In Russ­ian)
  4. Gory­ache­va, E.A., Lazeb­naya, K.P. Potre­ble­nie kak fenomen peredachi long-dat­ed simvolov. Toch­ki soprikos­noveniya teorii simvolich­esko­go P. Soroki­na i medi­ologii R. Debre [Con­sump­tion as a Trans­mis­sion of Long-Dat­ed Sym­bols. Points of Con­ver­gence between P. Sorokin’s The­o­ry of Sym­bol­ic Medi­a­tors and R. Debray’s Medi­ol­o­gy], Zhur­nal sot­si­ologii i sot­sial­noy antropologii / The Jour­nal of Soci­ol­o­gy and Social Anthro­pol­o­gy, 2011, vol. 14, no. 5, pp. 108–120. (In Russ­ian)
  5. Ilyin, A.N. Kontsept bezud­erzhno­go potre­bleniya (struk­turnyy anal­iz) [The Con­cept of Unlim­it­ed Con­sump­tion], Obshch­estven­nye nau­ki i sovre­men­nost, 2012, no. 2, pp. 161–169. (In Russ­ian)
  6. Infor­mat­sion­noe obshch­est­vo: vostre­bo­van­nost infor­mat­sion­no-telekom­mu­nikat­sion­nykh tekhnologiy nase­le­niem Rossii [Infor­ma­tion Soci­ety: Demand for the Infor­ma­tion and Com­mu­ni­ca­tion Tech­nol­o­gy by the Pop­u­la­tion in Rus­sia] / G.I. Abdrakhmano­va, L.M. Gokhberg, G.G. Koval­e­va et al; Nation­al Research Uni­ver­si­ty High­er School of Eco­nom­ics. Moscow: NIU VSHE Publ., 2015. 120 pp. (In Russ­ian)
  7. Izmeste­va, N.N. Klipovoe soz­nanie i obra­zo­vatel­nye tekhnologii: k postanovke prob­lem [Clip Con­scious­ness and Edu­ca­tion­al Tech­nolo­gies: To the State­ment of the Prob­lem], Vest­nik IzhG­TU im. M.T. Kalash­niko­va, 2016, vol. 19, no. 1, pp. 87–90. (In Russ­ian)
  8. Koshel, V.A., Segal, A.P. “Klipovoe mysh­le­nie” kak for­ma oby­denno­go soz­naniya [Clip­ping Con­scious­ness as a Form of Ordi­nary Con­scious­ness], Mezh­dunar­o­d­nyy aka­demich­eskiy vest­nik, 2015, no. 4 (10), pp. 15–23. (In Russ­ian)
  9. Lago­d­i­na, E.V. Nas­toy­ashchee i budushchee rossiyskikh obshch­estven­nykh pros­transtv [The Present and the Future of Russ­ian Pub­lic Spaces], Rossiyskiy psikho­logich­eskiy zhur­nal / Russ­ian Psy­cho­log­i­cal Jour­nal, 2013, no. 4, pp. 62–69. DOI: 10.21702/rpj.2013.4.8. (In Russ­ian)
  10. Lani­gan, J.D. A Sociotech­no­log­i­cal Mod­el for Fam­i­ly Research and Inter­ven­tion: How Infor­ma­tion and Com­mu­ni­ca­tion Tech­nolo­gies Affect Fam­i­ly Life, Mar­riage & Fam­i­ly Review, 2009, vol. 45, iss. 6–8, pp. 587–609. DOI: 10.1080/01494920903224194.
  11. Mer­zlyakov, S.S. Klipovoe soz­nanie – eto ne plokho? Klipovoe soz­nanie – eto khorosho? [Is Clip Con­scious­ness Not Bad? Is Clip Con­scious­ness Good?], Filosofiya khozyayst­va, 2016, no. 1 (103), pp. 256–263. (In Russ­ian)
  12. Mityag­i­na, E.V., Dol­go­polo­va, N.S. “Klipovoe soz­nanie” molodezhi v sovre­men­nom infor­mat­sion­nom obshch­estve [“Clip Con­scious­ness” of Youth in the Mod­ern Infor­ma­tion Soci­ety], Vest­nik Nizhe­gorod­sko­go uni­ver­site­ta im. N.I. Lobachevsko­go. Seriya: Sot­sial­nye nau­ki / Vest­nik of Lobachevsky State Uni­ver­si­ty of Nizh­ni Nov­gorod. Series: Social Sci­ences, 2009, no. 3 (15), pp. 53–59. (In Russ­ian)
  13. Noviko­va, A. Kak flesh­mob s obli­vaniem ledyanoy vodoy zakhvatil ves mir [How the Flash Mob with Douche of Icy Water Cap­tured the Whole World, Kom­so­mol­skaya Prav­da, 25 August 2014. Avail­able at: https://www.nnov.kp.ru/daily/26273.5/3150961 (accessed on Octo­ber 11, 2018). (In Russ­ian)
  14. Obukho­va, Yu.O. Mobil­nyy tele­fon kak sred­st­vo samo­prezen­tat­sii v mezh­lich­nos­t­noy kom­mu­nikat­sii [Self-Pre­sen­ta­tion by Means of Mobile Phone in Inter­per­son­al Com­mu­ni­ca­tion], Zhur­nal sot­si­ologii i sot­sial­noy antropologii / The Jour­nal of Soci­ol­o­gy and Social Anthro­pol­o­gy, 2011, vol. 14, no. 2, pp. 119–138. (In Russ­ian)
  15. Pashkov, A.G. Infor­mat­sion­naya “gadzheti­zat­siya” kak prob­le­ma lich­nos­ti i obshch­est­va: kuda vedut che­love­ka elek­tron­nye kom­mu­nika­to­ry? [Infor­ma­tion “Gadzheti­zat­siya” as a Prob­lem of Indi­vid­u­als and Soci­ety: Where are Elec­tron­ic Com­mu­ni­ca­tors Lead­ing Us to?], Bereginya. 777. Sova: Obshch­est­vo. Poli­ti­ka. Ekonomi­ka, 2015, no. 4 (27), pp. 262–266. (In Russ­ian)
  16. Patrikak­ou, E.N. Par­ent Involve­ment, Tech­nol­o­gy, and Media: Now What? School Com­mu­ni­ty Jour­nal, 2016, vol. 26, no. 2, pp. 9–24.
  17. Platono­va, E.D. Eko­nomich­eskaya mod­el budushchego Rossii: teo­retiko-metodologich­eskiy vek­tor razrabot­ki [The Eco­nom­ic Mod­el of the Future of Rus­sia: The The­o­ret­i­cal and Method­olog­i­cal Per­spec­tive], Inter­net-zhur­nal “Naukove­de­nie”, 2015, no. 4 (29). Avail­able at: https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/ekonomi cheskaya-mod­el-buduschego-rossii-teo­retiko-metodologich­eskiy-vek­tor-razrabot­ki (accessed on Octo­ber 11, 2018). DOI: 10.15862/77EVN415. (In Russ­ian)
  18. Pono­mare­va, A.M., Mikhee­va, T.S. Brend­ing det­skikh pro­duk­tov kak instru­ment kholis­tich­esko­go mar­ketinga: postanov­ka prob­le­my, osnov­naya gipoteza [Brand­ing of Children’s Goods as an Instru­ment of Holis­tic Mar­ket­ing], Nauch­no-metodich­eskiy elek­tron­nyy zhur­nal “Kontsept”, 2015, no. 24, pp. 61–65. (In Russ­ian)
  19. Ritzer, G. Mak­donaldizat­siya obshch­est­va 5 [The Mac­donaldiza­tion of Soci­ety 5] / transl. [from Eng­lish] by A.V. Lazarev. Moscow: Prak­sis Publ., 2011. 592 pp. (In Russ­ian)
  20. Rol vir­tu­al­nykh sot­sial­nykh setey v zhizni sovre­menno­go shkol­ni­ka. Otch­et po itogam NIR [The Role of Vir­tu­al Social Net­works in the Con­tem­po­rary School Stu­dent Life. Report on the Research Results] / Arzhanykh E.V., Zadorin I.V., Kolesniko­va E.Yu., Gurk­i­na O.A., Noviko­va E.M., Malt­se­va D.V. Moscow, MGPPU, Lab­o­ra­to­ry of Mon­i­tor­ing Stud­ies, 2014. 107 pp. (In Russ­ian)
  21. Sukhodolov, A.P., Bychko­va, A.M. Osveshche­nie suit­si­dal­noy tem­ati­ki v sred­st­vakh massovoy infor­mat­sii v svete pravovykh ogranicheniy i sot­sial­noy znachi­mosti prob­le­my [The Media Cov­er­age of Sui­cide Issues in the Terms of Legal Restric­tions and Sui­cide Issues Being of Social Impor­tance], Voprosy teorii i prak­ti­ki zhur­nal­is­ti­ki / The­o­ret­i­cal and Prac­ti­cal Issues of Jour­nal­ism, 2016, vol. 5, no. 4, pp. 588–606. DOI: 10.17150/2308–6203.2016.5(4).588–606. (In Russ­ian)
  22. Sheme­to­va, T.N. Klipovoe inter­net-soz­nanie kak tip pralogichno­go mysh­leniya [Video Clip Online Con­scious­ness as a Type of Pre-Log­i­cal Think­ing], Vest­nik Nizhe­gorod­sko­go uni­ver­site­ta im. N.I. Lobachevsko­go / Vest­nik of Lobachevsky State Uni­ver­si­ty of Nizh­ni Nov­gorod, 2013, no. 4–2, pp. 254–259. (In Russ­ian)
  23. Shcheko­tur­ov, A.V. Kon­stru­irovanie vir­tu­al­noy gen­der­noy iden­tich­nos­ti [Con­struc­tion of Vir­tu­al Gen­der Iden­ti­ty]: doc­tor­al diss. for Cand. of Social Sc. Nizhe­gorod. gos. un-t. Nizh­ny Nov­gorod, 2013. 23 pp. (In Russ­ian)
  24. Web­ster, F. Teorii infor­mat­sionno­go obshch­est­va [The­o­ries of the Infor­ma­tion Soci­ety] / transl. [from Eng­lish] by M.V. Ara­pov, N.V. Malykhinf; ed. by E.L. Var­tano­va. Moscow: Aspekt Press, 2004. 400 pp. (In Russ­ian)
  25. Yakubovskaya, K. “Rat­sion­al­nye dobrya­ki”. Sot­si­olog – o tom, kak zhivet sovre­men­naya molodezh. Inter­vjyu s direk­torom Tsen­tra Molodezh­nykh issle­dovaniy NIU VSHE-Sankt-Peter­burg, d.s.n. E.L. Omelchenko [“Ratio­nal Good Souls.” A Soci­ol­o­gist on How Mod­ern Youth Lives. Inter­view with Dr. E.L. Omelchenko, the Direc­tor of the Cen­ter for Youth Stud­ies, HSE St. Peters­burg], “Argu­men­ty i fak­ty”, 9 April 2018. Avail­able at: http://www.spb.aif.ru/society/people/racionalnye_dobryaki_sociolog_o_tom_kak_zhivet_sovremennaya_molodezh (accessed on: Octo­ber 9, 2018). (In Russ­ian)

Comments are closed.