Abstract:

Active use of social networking services by the youth creates a certain reaction among the teachers. According to some of their estimations, it is an escape from reality, the evidence of the crisis of civilization and personal degradation. Others see a virtual community as an important and valuable product of civilization opening new perspectives for a personality. There, in connection with this contradiction, the question of mental mechanisms raises ensuring the stability of personality in the changing world. The process of reflection is one of these mechanisms. This paper presents the analysis of the main features of the current state of the virtual reflection problem. The results of the investigation of high school students’ common and virtual reflection are being discussed.

The obtained data testify a slight exaggeration of the computer addiction problem of school children and the substitution of the real environment by the virtual one. The majority of students aged 13-17 do not consider themselves active users of social networks and are characterized by a higher rate of general rather than a virtual reflection.
However, there is a large group of schoolchildren, for which social networks are an important environment for developing their abilities for social adaptation and reflection.
It was found that under certain conditions, the development of virtual reflection may be a factor of personal growth development.

Practical recommendations are given on the use of advanced computer technologies as an instrument for the virtual reflection development of school children in a virtual community.

Keywords:

Research project, virtual reflection, social networking, personal growth development, advanced computer technologies.