Always Online? Daily Modes and Practices of Student Youth in the Internet Space in a Pandemic

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the quarantine that followed it caused the onlineization of many spheres of human life, the main of which was the sphere of work, education, and leisure. In this connection, the question of the role of the Internet in everyday life, in particular, in the daily life of young people, has again become topical. The researchers' discussion continued in the previously created matrix of opinions, according to which, on the one hand, in the modern world, the Internet has a positive effect on communication, access to education, cultural and social initiatives, reduces the amount of time spent on bureaucratic procedures, and democratizes information. On the other hand, the Internet acts as a field for the manifestation of risks that are associated, for example, with online security and the risk of Internet addiction. In this regard, the questions of how the pandemic affected the daily life of young people became relevant, how young people managed (or failed) to cope with the changes that have occurred, which was a prerequisite for this study. HSE students from four cities (Moscow, St. Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod and Perm) were chosen as the object of this study due to the fact that, according to the analysis of the literature, it is age that is the key category when talking about Internet users. Also, within the framework of the literary review, which paved the way for empirical research, we examined the main approaches to the concept of everyday Internet, highlighted the main features of youth Internet use. In addition, in the theoretical part of the work, we examined the distinctive features of the new "post-image reality". The empirical part of the work was carried out within the framework of a qualitative methodology, the main method was an in-depth semi-structured interview. The work used the material of 20 interviews, based on the analysis of which the research material is presented in four paragraphs. The work shows the main transformations in the everyday life of students with the onset of a pandemic - in personal and educational-work, as well as changes in the use of the Internet and mobile devices. Changes in the daily routine of informants, regimes and planning practices, changed life priorities with the onset of a pandemic are analyzed. In addition, the transformed role of mobile phones, the Internet and the structure of their use is investigated. The final paragraph examines the changed emotional state of the informants and the practice of coping with it.