FEATURES OF STUDENT MEDIA CONSUMPTION AND RISKS OF SPREADING EXTREMIST IDEAS ON SOCIAL NETWORKS

Abstract

The article reveals the urgent problem of the spread of extremist ideas among young people through social networks. The purpose of the work was to study the connection between the peculiarities of student media consumption and their assessment of the occurrence of extremist ideas. The methodological base of the study was an interdisciplinary approach to the study of online radicalization of youth. To collect empirical data, an online survey was used, in which 1,950 students of the 1st-5th year of state universities of Russia took part. All questions except the question of social media use were built on the basis of the R. Likert scale. For mathematical processing of the study results, the following were used: factor and correlation analyses, as well as the Somers D-test. The study found that social media is a factor in the spread of radical ideas. Moreover, participation in some communities can reduce the risk of radicalization, and in others increase it. The level of dissemination of extremist ideas is also influenced by the criticality of the information received and the level of trust in various sources of information. The scientific novelty of the study is to obtain new data on how the fact of using various social networks is associated with the risk of colliding with radical ideas and calls for illegal actions. The data obtained are of interest to a wide range of specialists: teachers, psychologists, sociologists, etc. They can be used in the development of preventive and corrective programs.