Background. The ubiquity of ICTs, the decrease in the age at which digital devices began to be used, the sensitivity of the periods of preschool and primary school age, the extremely high importance of parental position regarding the use of digital devices by young children, with insufficient scientific development of this problem, necessitates obtaining and analyzing empirical data on the use of digital technologies in Russian families with preschool- and primary school- aged children.

Objective. Investigation of the ICTs usage in families with children of preschool (5-7 years old) and primary school (8-11 years old) age.

Design. The at-home study (N=100 parental-child dyads) consisted of a semi-structured interview for preschoolers and questionnaires for primary school aged children and parents of both age groups. It included questions about the level of user activity, digital initiation and culture, digital competency, parental mediation, online risks, psychological well-being and parent-child relationships .

Results. On weekdays, two-thirds (62-64%) of children aged 5–11 spend max. 1 hour on the Internet, and the rest of them spend max. 3 hours. On weekends, 48% of children of 5–11 years old spend online 1–3 hours, with 8% of preschool children and 18% of primary school children spending >3 hours. 5–7 aged children mostly use tablets, while 7–11 olders prefer smartphones. In both age groups, the leading form of digital activity is watching cartoons and videos. Children’s digital games evolve from interest in interacting with objects to preference for role-playing games. 7–1 aged kids begin to explore social networks, and use the Internet for study. 46% of 5–7 year children (46%), and 60% of 8–11 aged children have encountered online risks. Technical and content risks (pop-up banners and videos, frightening and pornographic content, viruses) prevail. 12% of primary school students encounter communication risks as well.

Most parents of preschoolers (70%) choose a strategy of being nearby their child using the Internet. In families with 8–11 aged children, adults are more tend to purposefully educate their child to use online technologies. A third of all adults surveyed admit to being insecure in the issue of online safety.

The Background of the study is determined by the importance of information exchange for adolescent moral development, in particular the role of cognitive processing of social information (CPI) for the development of moral consciousness.

The Objective of the study was to investigate the relationship between the level of moral development of adolescents and the Internet CPI. The Hypothesis of the study: the features of moral sensitivity and the level of development of moral judgments in adolescents provide background to different stages of cognitive processing of social information on the Internet.

Methods and sampling. The study used the following methods: «Justice – Care» method (S.V. Molchanov) aimed at identifying the level of development of moral judgments was used; the author’s method of identifying the level of moral sensitivity, the method of cognitive processes of assessing social information on the Internet; Yanoff-Bulman scale of basic beliefs (modified By M. A. Padun and A.V. Kotelnikova). The study involved 208 adolescents aged 13-18 years (48% males and 52% females).

Results. On the basis of the cluster analysis, two groups of adolescents were identified – individuals with a high level of development of moral judgments and high moral sensitivity and individuals with a low level of development of moral judgments and heterogeneous moral sensitivity. Moral sensitivity determines how much the subject is aware of the moral content of problem situations. Adolescents with a high level of moral development are characterized by a strong belief in the justice of the world and the experience of the value and significance of their own Self. Differences in cognitive processing of social information are revealed. Adolescents with a high level of moral development are more focused on the choice of response behaviour, taking into account its possible consequences and assessing self-efficacy in the process of social interaction in the Internet space. Adolescents with a low level of moral development are more focused on the interpretive stage of social information analysis, where the task is to understand the moral content of the situation and highlight the moral conflict.

The paper examines the existing approaches to privacy in modern psychology. Basic directions of studying privacy and protection of personal data in the online environment through various scientific approaches are analyzed. Protection of personal data being one of privacy kinds is deemed as a relevant issue of safety of today’s children and adolescents, i.e. Internet users. Based on population studies data and content analysis of social networking the ratio of Russian children and adolescents to personal data is analyzed, the problems arising from its misuse, and also parents’ attitudes to this issue and the possibility of their assistance to their children in the protection of personal data are emphasized. 

The research shows that at least one-third of Russian adolescents make a group of risk and may be affected by the risks posed by careless handling of personal information, because these children do not always respect the principle of confidentiality in respect of passwords; they establish open access to a personal page, allowing access to any registered user; personal profile specifies a set of personal information about themselves to the maximum extent; they are willing to share personal information with strangers; to no one to seek help on issues related to privacy settings in the Network. 

The results show that not only the children but also their parents greatly underestimate the hidden dangers of careless use and storage of personal data on the Internet. 

Russian schoolchildren have developed a commonly shared digital generation outlook but they still preserve different look at privacy in general and personal data in particular. Education of children and adolescents safety is emphasized to be a priority for parents and schools within the framework of promoting a culture of Internet use.

Main socio"cultural changes in modern society are outlined. Their influence on personality development of children and adolescents is revealed. The features of contemporary children due to evolutionary morphological transformations of human are discussed. The problems that comes from these processes to the psychological and pedagogical theory and practice, especially in the modern school, are described.