Social Networks as Emblematic of Children’s Communication Interaction

Abstract

In this article, the key attention is paid to the problem of the potential dependence of the children‘s audience on participation in social networks. Having defined as the purpose of the article the need to specify the elements of communication dependence of children on participation in social networks, a significant material of specific studies of the interests of the children‘s audience in social networks of both theoretical and applied nature, conducted by Ukrainian and foreign scientists, was elaborated. It is emphasized that the Internet and such a significant factor in its functioning as social networks are an extremely useful social factor in the intellectual, social and cultural growth of children and young audiences. At the same time, social networks are such a mass communication environment, within which there is always a potential danger of attracting children and young audiences to dishonest, and often socially critical groups and communities. The deviant content of such social networks as Twitch, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Discord, Roblox was analyzed. A generalized algorithm for determining the key, emblematic characteristics of dangers for children in social networks is derived, recommendations are given for reducing the level of both children‘s dependence on social networks and absolute trust in the content transmitted by social networks.