The thesis is devoted to the conceptualization of the anthropological dimension of the communicative space of social networks and messengers. The research methodology is based on an interdisciplinary strategy, which involves the synthesis of philosophical-anthropological, media-philosophical, and socio-philosophical approaches which enables a comprehensive and multifaceted study of the relationships and interactions between media technologies and the development of personality and social practices.
The scientific novelty of the research results lies in a comprehensive analysis of the diverse effects of the communicative environment of social networks and messengers on human life, consciousness, socialization, nature, and dynamics of interpersonal communication in the context of transformational processes in modern society. The correlation between new types of media communication technologies and forms of social communication, on the one hand, and personal and social transformations, forms of human socialization, acceleration of generational change, on the other, is substantiated is determined; the expediency of distinguishing «generation of social networks» and «generation of messengers» as two types of network identity, which have certain differences in worldview, ways of perception, language, forms of socialization and social behavior, including at the household level, the personal aspect of messenger communication is covered; a survey was conducted and an analysis of the opinions of experts and responses of respondents from Poland and Ukraine on the use and influence of messengers on personality and sociocultural transformations was made.
The stages of development of communication Internet technologies are characterized, which in the anthropological aspect can be considered as the stages of realization of M. McLuhan's thesis about media as «external expansion of the person». If at the stage of formation of Web 1.0 technology was limited to the transfer of verbal information from the addressee to the recipient, the current stage of Web 2.0 is characterized by the synthesis of verbal, visual, and audiovisual content, the possibility of semiotic representation of a range of human emotions, and interactivity. A new quality of cultural communication is emerging, ethics and content of the network are being transformed, because from now on the user gets the opportunity to act as a creator or co-creator of content, representing in the network space issues of existential and social nature. Web 3.0 expands the space of individual freedom in receiving, posting, and reproducing information for Internet users, a person will get their own platform and the ability to self-manage it. Today, new technologies are being developed intensively, Web 4.0, or Neuronet, which should operate at the level of neurocommunication and enable the unprecedented expansion of human intelligence by establishing a direct connection between the human brain and the computer.
In the process of understanding these trends, we distinguish between «generation of social networks» and «generation of messengers» as two types of network identity. The representative of the «generation of social networks» is mostly characterized by features such features as openness to global and collective influences, including manipulative, stereotypical thinking, dependence on the approval/disapproval of others, clip consciousness, superficial nature of communication. Representatives of the «generation of messengers» are largely characterized by traits such traits as individuality, a greater degree of independence of thinking; security and confidential nature of communication in messengers stimulate a greater degree of openness, trust.
It is substantiated that social networks have become an effective factor in the development of consciousness, the formation of value priorities, political sympathies, a catalyst for political change, a platform for active civic interaction during the «Revolution of Dignity» and the 2019 presidential campaign. Such interaction actively contributed to the formation of new practices of civic participation, consolidation, and self-organization of Ukrainian civil society.
Discussion of issues of existential nature in the virtual space of messenger communication makes the text of the message not just a set of characters, but fills it with meaning, gives it special meaning, and the messenger becomes a communication channel through which people can express their thoughts, feelings, and their essence. Messengers give people of different countries and cultures a sense of unity and solidarity and help them feel a person's need for another person, even if they are a few hundred kilometers away. As a result, messengers are a new kind of communicative practices that contribute to the personal development of the subjects of the communication process and therefore have a significant humanistic potential.
