Ideas about Real and Digital Worlds as Part of the Current Worldview of Adolescents and Parents in a Digital Society: Possibilities for Adaptation

The introduction of digital devices into all spheres of life has led to a significant restructuring of our everyday life and the world of the modern person. The real world is increasingly and actively extended by the digital environment, forming a historically unique life in a mixed online and offline reality. Psychology still lacks analyses of the worldview of adolescents most actively socialized in real and virtual spaces and comparisons with perceptions of elder generations that would contribute to understanding the choice of behavioral strategies of different generations and their adaptation to digital transformations. This study compares representations of real and virtual spaces as components of the world picture in adolescents and parents with different levels of user activity, digital competence, and value orientations. The sample was comprised of 282 adolescents aged 14–17 and 337 parents of adolescents of the same age. Adolescents’ pictures of the real and virtual worlds converge, while parents keep these worlds apart in their general system of perceptions. Adolescents and parents have different visions of the virtual world, while they are in common perceptions of the real world. The more time both adolescents and parents spend online, the more positive they perceive the virtual world, which is also characteristic of parents with a high level of digital competence. Adolescents with various value orientations differ in their perceptions of the real world only, while parents differ in their perceptions of both the real world and the virtual world. Thus, compared to the parents’ generation, adolescents, in addition to a generally positive picture of the world and high importance of the real world, also had more positive views of the virtual space and actively adapted to a mixed reality, which could act as a good psychological resource for adapting to major changes and shocks in the pandemic and the transition to distance learning.

Alekhin, A.N., Koroleva, N.N. (2013). Semantic structures of the world image as internal factors of selfdestructive behavior of modern adolescents. Universum: Bulletin of the Herzen University, 4, 99–109. (In Russian)

Al’perovich, V.D. (2020). Personality’s ideas about other people in connection with its “image of the world” and “picture of the world”. Gumanitarii: aktual’nye problemy gumanitarnoi nauki i obrazovaniia, 20, 3, 334–346. https://doi.org/10.15507/2078-9823.51.020.202003.334-346 (In Russian)

Bogdanovskaya, I.M., Ikonnikova, G.Yu., Koroleva, N.N. (2015). The role of modern information and communication environment in shaping the identity and image of the world of modern adolescents. Psikhologicheskaia nauka i obrazovanie psyedu.ru, 7, 1, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.17759/psyedu.2015070101 (In Russian)

Brubaker, R. (2020). Digital hyperconnectivity and the self. Theory and Society, 49, 771–801. https://doi. org/10.1007/s11186-020-09405-1

Buheji, M., Sisk, C.V. (2020). You and the new normal: Jobs, pandemics, relationship, climate change, success, poverty, leadership and belief in the emerging new world. Milton Keynes, AuthorHouse.

Cascio J. (2020). Facing the Age of Chaos. Available at: https://medium.com/@cascio/facing-the-age-ofchaos-b00687b1f51d (accessed: 08.07.2022). European Social Survey, ESS (2008). ESS4-2008 documentation report. Available at: https://www.europeansocialsurvey.org/docs/round4/survey/ESS4_data_documentation_report_e05_5.pdf (accessed: 14.03.2022).

Floridi, L. (2015). The onlife manifesto: Being human in a hyperconnected era. Berlin, Springer Nature.

Gordeeva, T.O., Lunkina M.V., Sychev O.A. (2018). Sources of optimistic thinking and adolescent wellbeing. Voprosy psikhologii, 5, 13–32. (In Russian)

Grishayeva, L.I., Popova M.K. (2003). The picture of the world as a problem of the humanities. In L. I. Grishayeva, M.K.Popova (eds), The picture of the world and ways of its representation: scientific reports of the conference “National pictures of the world: language, literature, culture, education” , (pp. 13–38). Voronezh, VGU Publ. (In Russian)

Guseltseva, M. S. (2017). Methodological aspects of studying the picture of the world of modern children and adolescents in a situation of transitivity. Mir psikhologii, 147–157. (In Russian)

Kravtsova, Ye. M. (2019). Model of the world and stress resistance of high school students. Metodologiia, teoriia i praktika innovatsionnogo razvitiia regional’nogo obrazovaniia. Materialy Vserossiyskoi s mezhdunarodnym uchastiem nauchno-prakticheskoy konferentsii (pp. 556–560).  Moscow, Pero Publ. (In Russian)

Lee, L.H. et al. (2021). All one needs to know about metaverse: A complete survey on technological singularity, virtual ecosystem, and research agenda. Journal of latex class files, 14, 8. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.11200.05124/8

Leont’yev, A.N. (1983). Image of the world. Izbrannye psikhologicheskiie proizvedeniia (pp. 251–261). Moscow, Pedagogika Publ. (In Russian)

Leont’yev, D.A., Mospan, A.N. (2017). Picture of the world, worldview and definition of the indefinite. Mir psikhologii, 2 (90), 12–19. (In Russian)

Livingstone, S., Haddon, L. (2014). EU Kids Online III: a thematic network to stimulate and coordinate investigation into the use of new media by children (final annual report). 

Martsinkovskaya, T.D., Golubeva, N.A., Yurchenko, N.I. (2017). Picture of the world, image of the world, ideas about the world: constants and transformations of the concept and content. Mir psikhologii, 2 (90), 20–33. (In Russian)

Mead, M. (1983). Culture and the world of childhood.  Moscow, Nauka Publ.

Obukhov, A. S. (2003). Historical conditioned modifications of the image of the world. Razvitiie lichnosti, 4, 51–68. (In Russian)

Otrel-Cass, K. (Ed.). (2019). Hyperconnectivity and digital reality: Towards the eutopia of being human. Cham, Switherland: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-24143-8

Rashitova, L. S. (2020). The image of the self in the picture of the world of disadapted adolescents (Doctoral dissertation). St Petersburg State University. St Petersburg. (In Russian)

Pyzhova, O.V. (2015). Image of the world versus picture of the world: stages of cultural and philosophical conceptualization. Istoricheskiie, filosofskiie, politicheskiie i yuridicheskiie nauki, kul’turologiia i iskusstvovedeniie. Voprosy teorii i praktiki, 12 (62), 165–168. (In Russian)

Ryaguzova, Ye. V. (2018). Transformation of the picture of the world and ways of categorizing the Other in a modern child. Izv. Sarat. un-ta. Nov. ser. Ser. Akmeologiia obrazovaniia. Psikhologiia razvitiia, 7, 3 (27), 228–237. https://doi.org/10.18500/2304-9790-2018-7-3-228-237 (In Russian)

Serkin, V.P. (2015). Changes in the image of the world, lifestyle and self-image when experiencing an extreme situation: new empirical data and recommendations. Lichnost’ v ekstremal’nykh usloviiakh i krizisnykh situatsiiakh zhiznedeiatel’nosti, 5, 322–334. (In Russian)

Skarbez, R., Smith, M., Whitton, M.C. (2021). Revisiting Milgram and Kishino’s reality-virtuality continuum. Frontiers in Virtual Reality, 2. https://doi.org/10.3389/frvir.2021.647997

Smahel, D., Machackova, H., Mascheroni, G., Dedkova, L., Staksrud, E., Ólafsson, K., Livingstone, S., Hasebrink, U. (2020). EU Kids Online 2020: Survey results from 19 countries. London. https://doi.org/10.21953/lse.47fdeqj01ofo

Soldatova, G.U., Voiskounsky, A.E. (2021) Socio-cognitive concept of digital socialization: а new ecosystem and social evolution of the mind. Psychology. Journal of Higher School of Economics, 3 (18), 431–450. https://doi.org/10.17323/1813-8918-2021-3-431-450 (in Russian)

Soldatova, G.U., Rasskazova, Ye. I. (2016). Digital gap and intergenerational relations between parents and children. Psikhologicheskii zhurnal, 5 (37), 44–54.

Soldatova, G.U., Rasskazova, Ye. I. (2018). Brief and screening versions of the digital competence index: verification and application possibilities. Natsional’nyi psikhologicheskii zhurnal, 3 (31), 47–56. (In Russian)

Soldatova, G.U., Rasskazova, Ye. I. (2020). Digital Transition Outcomes: From Online Reality to Mixed Reality. Cultural-Historical Psychology. 4 (16). С. 87–97. https://doi.org/10.17759/chp.2020160409 (In Russian)

Soldatova, G.U., Rasskazova, Ye. I., Nestik, T.A. (2017). Digital generation of Russia: competence and security. Moscow, Smysl Publ.

Vasilyuk, F.E. (1984). Psikhologiia perezhivaniia (analiz preodoleniia kriticheskikh situatsii) . Moscow, Moscow University Press. (In Russian)