Social Networks as a Space for Self-Realization of Primary School Students With Different Levels of Sociometric Status

The article is devoted to the study of the process of self-realization of modern primary school students in a social network. Modern processes of informatization and digitalization contribute to the involvement of representatives of all age groups in the Internet, including children from 7 to 11 years old. When performing socialization tasks, children prefer to focus on the virtual social space, perceiving and translating the social norms, values, and interests acquired there. To study the nature of the involvement of modern schoolchildren under the age of 11 in the social network space and the specifics of their self-realization, a sociological survey was conducted using a questionnaire in which 325 schoolchildren from the Volgograd region participated (a multi-stage sample). The results of the study showed a high degree of activity of modern schoolchildren in the social network, the role of parents as basic agents of children’s involvement, the transformation of leisure activities from active to passive, changing the form of spending free time, and transferring it to a virtual space. It has been suggested that the degree of involvement in social networks depends on the level of the child’s sociometric status, that is, the presence or absence of stable positive social ties among peers. Comparing the results of the sociometric survey and the questionnaire, several trends were identified. First, students with a high sociometric status are not active users of the social network, and they use the social network for self-presentation. Second, students with an average level of sociometric status have a higher involvement in the social network; they self-actualize in the virtual space mainly through online games. Third, children with low sociometric status not only spend their free time on a social network but also carry out the process of online communication, often with strangers.