Zasiekin A. Virtual Communication as a Factor of Student Youth's Personality Changes.

The research is devoted to the problem of virtual communication that causes personality changes in youth. A set of views on virtual communication as a specific kind of communicative activities aimed at exchanging information in cyberspace has been systematized and generalized.According to the results of the empirical research it has been found out that the students' Internet addiction increases with their experience and frequency of Internet use. The results of correlation analysis of Internet addiction rate and personality spheres - cognitive, motivational, and emotional - indicate both the existence of positive ties of Internet addiction with depressive states, anxiety, social frustration, loneliness, as well as negative ties with conceptual thinking.