Pasitikėjimas tinklaveika: ką apie tai mano skaitmeninio pasaulio čiabuviai ir imigrantai?

LTSkaitmeninių komunikacijos technologijų plėtra sudarė prielaidas rastis ir žaibiškai išpopuliarino naujus, dažnai patogesnius ir pigesnius tarpasmeninio bendravimo būdus, sukurdamos visiškai naujo tipo socialumo erdves, kuriose sparčiausiai ir patogiausiai įsikūrė bei aktyviausią gyvenimą gyvena jauniausioji karta. Tarpusavio komunikavimo ir veikimo pasauliniame tinkle požiūriu ši karta tapo tokia unikali, kad netgi imta vaizdingai vadinti skaitmeniniais čiabuviais, atskiriant juos nuo vyresnių kartų, kurie - teigiama - net ir įgavę reikalingų įgūdžių ir kompetencijų, tegali tapti skaitmeniniais imigrantais. Nors skaitmeninių čiabuvių terminas tapo gana populiarus ir plačiai naudojamas, šis gilias pasekmes įvairiose visuomeninio gyvenimo srityse galintis turėti socialinis reiškinys kol kas išlieka mažai tyrinėtas. Pasitelkus socialinės kognityvinės teorijos prielaidas ir ieškant atsakymo į vis dar atvirą klausimą, ar amžius yra esminė skirties tarp skaitmeninių čiabuvių ir skaitmeninių imigrantų ašis ar kiti dalykai (išsimokslinimas, materialinė gerovė ir kt.) gali šiuos ryškius skirtumus kompensuoti, šiame straipsnyje dėmesys pirmiausia sutelkiamas į pasitikėjimo tinklaveika reiškinį, nes pasitikėjimas yra būtina sąlyga sėkmingam kiekvieno socialinio organizmo funkcionavimui. Remiantis naujausiais Europos vertybių tyrimo duomenimis, siekiama atskleisti, kaip skirtingos Lietuvos gyventojų kartos suvokia tinklaveikos patikimumą ir kokias tai sudaro prielaidas joms prisitaikyti prie sparčiai kintančio šiuolaikinio pasaulio komunikacinio lauko.

ENThe development of digital communication technologies have rapidly expanded innovative, more convenient and inexpensive ways of interpersonal communication, creating completely new spaces of sociability, where the youngest human generation has settled fastest and feels most comfortable. Why are young people so enthusiastic about integrating new technologies in their daily lives, using them more intensively and in a wider variety of activities? One of the possible answers stemming from social cognitive theory paradigm is quite simple: young people just have greater digital self-efficacy because they see positive role models both in their social environment and in the media, and have less hesitation in their ability to master new competencies. In terms of peer-to-peer communication and global networking, this young generation has become so unique that it has even been figuratively called "digital natives", distinguishing it from the older generations who - as it is claimed - even after acquiring the necessary skills and competences can only become "digital immigrants". Although the term "digital natives" has become quite popular and widely used, this social phenomenon with far-reaching implications has sofar been little studied. When looking for an answer to a still open question whether age is the principal dividing line between digital natives and digital immigrants, or other attributes (such as education, material well-being, etc.) can compensate for the sharp differences in digital experiences, the article focuses primarily on the issue of trust in networking, because trust is a prerequisite for the successful functioning of any social entity.As of every social environment, mutual trust is also an important element of digital networking as it encourages communication: users need to assume a certain degree of risk and to trust others in order to expand their networks, hoping that the potential harms of networking will be less than its potential benefits. It is worth to discuss about the twofold relationship between trust and networking experience: on the one hand, greater trust in networking encourages greater involvement and fearlessness; on the other hand, networking experience gives useful insights into the processes and, at the same time, gives more confidence and builds trust. Since people of different generations have very different experiences of networking, it is likely to lead to differences in trust in networking. Official statistics how that the level of basic and higher digital competences among the youth is higher than among older generations; that young people are the most active on the Internet as the majority of them are involved in networking on daily basis; that among the youngest generation most of the indicators of digital literacy, activities, and privacy threats in the network are not dependent on education, where as in other generations education differentiates them significantly; that the greatest differences between generations are related to the spread of social and entertainment activities online, and the differences in the prevalence of instrumental activities among generations are not so pronounced.The article raises the question of whether these differences in networking practices also lead to different levels of trust in networking, which, in turn, would further strengthen the distinction between digital natives and digital immigrants. The analysis of the latest European Values Study data showed that, of all demographics examined, only age has a significant independent impact on trust in networking. Meanwhile, the impact of education and material well-being on trust in networking, controlling the age of respondents, has not been established. This implies that people aged 16-24 are rather homogeneous group in terms of Internet usage intensity, digital literacy, social networking, and trust in networking, so they can be considered as true digital natives. Although older people, especially those with a higher level of education and material background, acquire similar or even higher digital competences than young people, their normal networking behavior is in principle different in nature. The analysis carried out thus confirms the concept of digital natives as an age category. In order to reduce this intergenerational divide, if not to eliminate it, special attention should be paid to developing the digital self-efficacy of older people, fostering their faith in their ability to master digital technologies and to use them effectively in completing their daily tasks. Otherwise, the older generations will be destined to live in social exclusion and, as more and more services are moving to the digital space, this gap will only widen.