Digital deviation as a modern world phenomenon

Abstract

This research is devoted to the current issue of the formation of deviations on the Internet, in connection with the global digitalization taking place in the modern world. The peculiarity of this process is the fact that in virtual reality, unlike everyday reality, there are no clear laws and rules defining the norms of digital behavior, there are no criteria for deviant behavior. The process of deviant forms of behavior on the Internet, such as trolling, astroturfing, sexting, scamming, fishing, has become possible due to the anonymity on the Internet. The virtual space has thus created fertile ground for the emergence of deviant activity without fear of being held accountable. We consider the controversial issue of the impact of digitalization on personality and human behavior, provide an interpretation overview for term “deviation” from the point of view of biology, sociology, deviantology. The digital network causes the changes in humans at several levels: emotional, intellectual, physical, value, etc. These changes, in turn, generate new psychological personality traits. Behavioral changes are put forward in a special class, namely: the formation of deviant behavior in the digital network. As literature analysis on the studied issue shows, the characteristics of digital deviations are the latent nature of the manifestation, the absence of sanctions for the manifestation of deviations, the complex nature of the manifestation, etc. In addition, we provide a conditional typology of types of digital deviations by levels of human impact with such forms as “alienated in a digital crowd”, “digital dementia”, “I know everything and nothing”, etc.