Background. Within the conditions of information socialization that is transforming communication and placing high demands on the ability of the individual to search, select, critically comprehend social information for decision-making and carrying out moral choices, a new social situation has developed. The research of the relationship between cognitive methods of processing social information on the Internet and shaping the worldview and ideas about the moral regulation in adolescents makes it possible to study the patterns of personality development in the unity of the cognitive and value-moral spheres.

The Objective of the research is to identify cognitive methods of processing social information on the Internet as a factor of developing a picture of the world in adolescent users with varying degrees of involvement and the risk of Internet addiction and moral regulation of relationship between them.

Hypothesis. Cognitive methods of processing information on the Internet are connected with the level of Internet addiction - a high level of Internet addiction corresponds to the low efficiency of cognitive methods of processing information. These methods influence the emerging system of major beliefs and worldview characteristics, and level of sensitivity to situations of moral choice.

Design. The author’s method of assessing social information on the Internet based on Crick and Dodge model (1994), Chen method for diagnosing Internet-addictive behaviour, «The scale of basic beliefs of the person» of R. Yanoff-Bullman (Kalmykova , Padun, 2002), and the author’s method of assessing moral aspects were used. The study involved 84 adolescents from 13 to 18 years (46% males and 54% females).

Results. A comparative analysis of the effectiveness of cognitive processing cycles was conducted and gender differences were revealed. The relationship between Internet addiction and the effectiveness of cognitive processing methods of information on the Internet is verified. The significance of interpretation, behaviour assessment and the ability to construct social adaptive behaviour in communication to shape the major beliefs and moral attitude in adolescence are shown.

Conclusion. There are differences in the effectiveness of cognitive processing cycles of information. High efficiency of short-term, long-term, medium-term perspectives and behavioural responses and the ability to choose adequate social behavior corresponds to a relatively low productivity of interpretation. Internet addiction is interrelated with the low productivity of interpretation. Moral attitude is mediated by the age features of adolescent self-awareness and is related to the effectiveness of information interpretation, the evaluation of behavioural consequences and the choice of appropriate ways of social interaction.

Background. Digital technologies have long become an integral part of everyday life. Internet and Social Networking Sites (SNS) are considered to be one of the socialization institutions along with traditional school and family.

Objective. The research is concerned with studying the peculiarities of teenagers’ social psychological well-being when using SNS. The analysis aims at revealing the impact of demographic, social stratifying and social psychological factors on the type of adolescent self-performance at SNS, their attitude towards regulations of interaction at SNS, their concern about potential risks and also opinions about the effects of SNS socialization on their personality.

Design. The paper is based on the results of 2074 school-aged adolescent survey conducted in 2016 in Moscow region, Russia.

Results. According to the survey, the adolescent well-being when using SNS depends on the type of their self-presentation. The data showed that affective significance of social networking for adolescents who seek the attention of the strangers produces a negative impact on their emotional well-being: those who refer to their SNS profile as “provocative” are more likely to feel the “addiction to virtual interaction and other’s opinions” – 17.4% (mean 7.1%; p≤ .0004), being disturbed by “more popular profiles” – 21,7% (mean 4.2%; p≤ .00001).

Conclusion. The survey showed that nowadays adolescents deem the SNS as the most important communicative field where the fundamental age-related changes take plaare foundce. The tendency to expand social contacts by means of virtual communication was found to produce negative impact on adolescent personal development and social interaction in real life.

The paper presents the social problems of Internet addiction.

One of the primary causes of Internet addiction is a rapid increase in using modern Information Technology. Obvious changes in psychological traits of persons who deal with the computer and turning it into an object of psychological research are analysed. On the one hand, the Internet is viewed as one of the issues of the man’s trouble, on the other hand, the Internet contributes to the solution of many problems of modern man.