The study of virtual forms of communication is now becoming more and more relevant. This is not least due to the inclusion of new information technologies in the space of educational practices.

The following forms of communication on the Internet can be distinguished: teleconference, chat (meaning IRC (Internet Relay Chat), MUDs and e-mail correspondence. Researchers of Internet communication usually divide the methods of communication on the Internet according to their degree of interactivity. The most interactive communication media are considered chats and MUDs, the least interactive are e-mail and teleconferences.In a teleconference and when communicating via e-mail, communication occurs off-line, unlike chat (IRC) and MUDs, where people communicate on-line. happens around a certain subject, while chat, again, as a rule, does not have its own topic.However, in chats for the most part communication is practiced for the sake of communication, while teleconferences are most often devoted to a specific subject.

As a separate form of communication on the Internet, one can single out communication in the so-called MUDs (from “multi-user dimension” - role-playing game in which many users are united in one virtual space), which is close to chatting with what happens on-line , but differs from it in the presence of a goal - the desire to win.

Describing the process of communication in the chat system, it is necessary not only to note the characteristic features of this interaction, but also to try to give a psychological explanation for this phenomenon. It is well known that in the process of written communication, almost every participant supplements his statement with certain symbols. Most of them are stylized images of a human face. They are designed to convey the emotional state of the participants in communication. With the help of these signs, you can convey a smile, a sly grin, concern, anger, and also express other emotions. Sometimes users are not limited to such stylization and send drawings that resemble primitive paintings. Similar features of written speech were observed and studied by the Italian psychiatrist Caesar Lombroso more than a hundred years ago. He showed that this kind of writing was typical for most ancient cultures. There are other, no less surprising facts that bring IRC writing closer to the primitive writing of ancient civilizations. The use of acronyms - a kind of symbolic abbreviations of whole phrases and sentences - has become quite widespread on the network. You may notice that many acronyms are written without the use of vowels: bb - bye bye, BRB - Be right back (I'll be right back), BTW - By the way (by the way), pls - please (thanks), L8R - Later (later) and etc. This also resembles some ancient forms of writing, in particular Hebrew writing, in which only consonants were written and vowels were omitted.

In other words, the writing of modern users of computer networks, for certain reasons, has acquired atavistic features that were once characteristic of the entire written culture. This effect is observed in normal conditions either in children, as a result of their syncretic and paralogical thinking, or in case of illness and violation of the thinking process.

It can be noted that most of the statements in such "dialogues" are essentially replicas to nowhere, and are intended to express the opinion or state of the author of the statement, and not to find out the opinion or state of the interlocutor. Such speech can be characterized as egocentric in the terminology of J. Piaget. Moreover, it is known that a high level of egocentrism is characteristic of early childhood.

It is necessary to note a number of characteristic features of communication using computer networks. First, the possibility of simultaneous communication of a large number of people located in different parts of the world, and, therefore, living in different cultures; secondly, the impossibility of using most of the non-verbal means of communication and self-presentation; third, the impoverishment of the emotional component of communication; and fourthly, anonymity and reduced psychological risk in the communication process. These characteristics lead to the development of new forms and styles of interaction and the emergence of a kind Internet etiquette.

All these forms of communication, due to its computer-mediated nature, have such characteristics as anonymity, which has a number of consequences. First, non-verbal means of communication are losing their importance in communication on the Internet. Despite the fact that in text communication there is an opportunity to express one's feelings with the help of "emoticons", the physical absence of communication participants in the act of communication leads to the fact that feelings can not only be expressed, but also hidden, as well as the feelings that a person can is not experiencing at the moment. On the Internet, as a result of the physical lack of presentation of communication partners to each other, a number of communication barriers are losing their significance, due to such characteristics of communication partners, which are expressed in their appearance: gender, age, social status, external attractiveness or unattractiveness, as well as the communicative competence of a person. , or rather, the non-verbal part of communicative competence.

Despite the fact that it is sometimes possible to get some information of a personal nature and even a photo of the interlocutor, they are not enough for a real and more or less adequate perception of a person. In addition, there is a concealment or presentation of false information. As a result of such anonymity and impunity, another feature is manifested in the network associated with a decrease in psychological and social risk in the process of communication - affective emancipation, abnormality and some irresponsibility of the participants in communication. A person in the network can and does show great freedom of speech and action, since the risk of exposure and personal negative assessment by others is minimal.

Another important consequence of the physical lack of representation of a person in textual communication is the ability to create any impression about oneself of one's choice. The foregoing touches upon another important problem, which can be described as the problem of identity on the Internet.

Indeed, in text communication on the Internet, people often create so-called "virtual personalities" for themselves, describing themselves in a certain way. The virtual person is endowed with a name, often a pseudonym. The fact that on the Internet people create for themselves some "virtual personalities", which gives rise to additional opportunities for the study of identity.

There is a point of view according to which the construction of virtual personalities on the Internet is a reflection of changes in the structure of a person's identity (the tendency towards a plurality of identity in real life) is a reflection of social changes. If a person fully realizes all aspects of his "I" in real communication, he most likely lacks the motivation to construct virtual personalities. In the described case, communication on the Internet is in addition to the main communication. But it can also have a compensatory, substitute character. This happens when an Internet addiction is formed.

Social support is provided through the inclusion of a person in some social group (chat, MUD, or teleconference) on the Internet. Like any community, cyberspace culture has its own set of values, standards, language, symbols, to which individual users adapt. By joining such a group, a person gets the opportunity to support a positive image of "I" at the expense of a positive social identity.

The Internet is especially important for those people whose real life for one reason or another (internal or external reasons) is interpersonal impoverished. Rather, people use the Internet as an alternative to their immediate (real) environment. Computers (meaning computer-mediated communication) create the illusion of companionship without the demands of friendship. The deterioration of interpersonal relationships in reality leads to Internet addiction.

In general, it is obvious that most of the Internet addicts "hang" on communication for the sake of communication. This may indicate the compensatory nature of communication on the Internet. Internet addicts receive various forms of social recognition on the Internet. Their dependence may indicate that in real life they do not receive social recognition, and also that in real life this group of people may have certain communication difficulties that reduce their satisfaction with real communication.

It seems that this theory can be fruitfully used to develop a psychological explanation for the effect of dependence on various types of network activity. The phenomenon of Internet addiction can and should be understood not just as an exclusively obsessive addiction that should be eliminated at any cost, but also as a cognitive activity rich in intrinsic motivation.

So what exactly is online communication? Answering this question, one should give a full description of all kinds of communication methods on the Internet. So, the ways of communication:

• 1. Email
• 2. Forums
• 3. Chats

Let us dwell on each of them in more detail and give a characteristic.

1. Email... It is an analogue of the well-known communication system through letters sent in envelopes indicating the destination and the addressee's data, characterized in that the letter exists in the form of an electronic message that is sent from the addressee's computer to the mail server, and then delivered to the addressee on his mail box. The whole procedure, under good conditions, takes no more than 3-5 minutes. The mailbox address is the following: name@mail_server.country_code (for example: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it). A letter, like a regular letter in an envelope, can contain various attachments in the form of graphic (photographs, drawings), audio (music, speech) and other types of files.

Like paper, e-mail has some peculiarities. Such communication, as a rule, is more often interpersonal or group in nature, but sometimes it can also be massive (in the case of sending one letter to a large number of recipients). It is always mediated (the computer and the postal service act as intermediaries) and distantly. According to the way of interaction, it can be a monologue or a dialogue (if each subsequent letter answers the questions of the previous one). The form, like on paper, is written, but if communication takes place using sound speech files attached to letters, then this form can be called oral. There are no restrictions on the style of speech: it can be either official business or any other, up to colloquial speech and the use of profanity. Much here depends on the level of development of the interlocutors, their relationships and the goals that they pursue.

Advantages of email versus paper:

• - scanty time spent (both by the addressee for sending and by the addressee for receiving and responding);
• - money for shipment;
• - less data required for successful delivery;
• - the ability to send along with the letter of sound materials;
• - the possibility of simultaneous sending of one letter to several addressees;
• - the ability to forward letters;

Disadvantages:

• - It is necessary to have a computer, Internet access, an electronic mailbox, as well as basic knowledge of managing PC software;
• - when sending a large number of attached files, or files of a large size (from 25 MB), it may be more expedient to use the services of regular mail;
• 2. Forums. Another way to communicate on the Internet. In fact, it is a simulator of this event in the usual sense of this concept, i.e. organizing the exchange of information and communication between a large number of interlocutors who are interested in the topic of this or that discussion, which, in fact, is the reason for the concentration of these people in one place to bring it up for general discussion. The difference is that when organizing Internet forums there are no strict restrictions on the contingent of participants - almost any users registered on a particular forum can become them, there is also no time frame for discussing a topic - the process continues as long as the topic is interesting for interlocutors. There are forums of different topics, contingent of participants and pursued goals: some are valid Internet analogs of previously held meetings on some topics that require further discussion, but are no longer able to be held due to possible transport and other kinds of difficulties that prevent them from being held in their usual form, while others more often exist for organizing communication between people (usually having friendly relations outside the Internet, i.e. in ordinary life), for various reasons, are not able to gather in one place for live, unmediated communication. Forums of the first type usually have scientific or socio-political topics and pursue appropriate goals, which can be the solution of any problems related to this topic. Such forums are characterized by some formality and official-business, scientific or scientific-journalistic style of speech. As a rule, communication takes place within the framework of the Russian national literary language. Forums of the second type differ, first of all, by their themes - they can discuss various everyday spheres of life, social events or works of creators in the field of art (including music, painting, poetry and prose, etc.), as well as the informality of communication. In addition, depending on the contingent of participants, all means of the language are used without restrictions. Communication takes place mainly in a colloquial style of speech, but there is no rigid framework here. The goals can be considered to be the acquisition of various knowledge, communication experience by the participants, as well as obtaining some truth in disputes regarding a particular phenomenon or individual preferences. In general, many forums are characterized by the same unwritten rules: discussion of any topic begins, first of all, with the author's monologue in the form of an article (review / review, opinions on any of the positions of interest to many), containing the essence of the problem and the author's reasoned arguments in favor of one point of view or another. Further, all interested persons (or one person) are connected to the discussion of the topic with the author. Thus, the method of interaction can already be called either a dialogue or a polylogue, if communication takes place between several participants who can address the author or each other. Discussion goals in forums can be informative, prescriptive, emotive, or mixed. The duration of a discussion on one topic can range from several hours to several months or even years.

Advantages of Internet forums over live ones:

• - no need to make long journeys to the venue - you just need to turn on your computer and dial the desired email address;
• - tremendous savings in time, effort and money when participating in the forum;
• - the ability to take part in several forums at the same time;
• - lack of physical contact with opponents excludes the possibility of using physical force in controversial situations to achieve the necessary results;
• - the period of the forum does not have a strict time frame;

Disadvantages:

• - it is necessary to have a computer, Internet access, e-mail box, registration on the forum, as well as basic knowledge of the use of PC software;
• - frequent lack of visual representation of the interlocutors in view of their unwillingness to put their photos on public display;
• 3. Chats. A kind of forums, which differs from them in the absence of any specific scientific or social topics. They are created directly to simulate live group communication, mainly young people. Communication takes place in the form of a polylogue of often strangers pursuing the goal of making acquaintances. Like a live acquaintance, to achieve this goal, as a rule, there are several stages: Participants, reading various statements, find a close or interesting person with whom, at first, exchange general information about themselves, or openly offer him to get to know him. This is followed by a dialogue that exists to "probe" the interlocutor, and, ultimately, if the interlocutors are interested in each other, they agree to meet on the "mainland". At the same time, all participants in the chat have the opportunity to observe their communication or join them. A distinctive feature is the relative short duration (compared to forums) of any debate between opponents.

Advantages and disadvantages the same as for communication on the forums.

The following forms of communication on the Internet can be distinguished: teleconference, chat, various forums and correspondence by e-mail. Internet communication researchers usually categorize the methods of communication on the Internet according to their degree of interactivity. The most interactive communication media are chat rooms and forums, the least interactive are e-mail and teleconferences. In a teleconference and when communicating via e-mail, communication takes place off-line, in contrast to chat, where people communicate on-line. In a conference, communication takes place around a specific subject, while chat does not have its own topic. However, chat rooms are mostly about communication for the sake of communication, while teleconferences are most often about a specific subject. As a separate form of communication on the Internet, one can single out communication in the so-called MUDs (from "multi-user dimension" - a role-playing game in which many users are united in one virtual space), which is close to chatting with what happens on-line , but differs from it in the presence of a goal - the desire to win. Now we will consider each form of communication separately and draw conclusions about the advantages and disadvantages of each of them.

3.1. Email.

It is an analogue of the well-known communication system through letters sent in envelopes indicating the destination and the addressee's data, characterized in that the letter exists in the form of an electronic message that is sent from the addressee's computer to the mail server, and then delivered to the addressee on his mail box. The whole procedure under good conditions takes no more than 3-5 minutes. The mailbox address is the following: name @ mail server. Country code (for example: [email protected]). A letter, like a regular letter in an envelope, can contain various attachments in the form of graphic (photographs, drawings), audio (music, speech) and other types of files. Like paper, e-mail has some peculiarities. Such communication, as a rule, is more often interpersonal or group in nature, but sometimes it can also be massive (in the case of sending one letter to a large number of recipients). It is always mediated (the computer and the postal service act as intermediaries) and distantly. By the way of interaction, it can be a monologue or a dialogue (if each subsequent letter answers the questions of the previous one). The form, like on paper, is written, but if communication takes place using sound speech files attached to letters, then this form can be called oral. There are no restrictions on the style of speech: it can be both official business and any other, up to colloquial speech and the use of profanity. Much depends on the level of development of the interlocutors, their relationships and the goals that they pursue / Advantages of email versus paper:- scanty time spent (both by the addressee for sending and by the addressee for receiving and responding); - minimum cash costs for shipping; - less data required for successful delivery; - the ability to send along with the letter of sound materials; - the possibility of simultaneous sending of one letter to several addressees; - the ability to forward letters. Disadvantages:- It is necessary to have a computer, Internet access, an electronic mailbox, as well as basic knowledge of managing PC software; - when sending a large number of attached files, or files of a large size (from 25 MB), it may be more expedient to use the services of regular mail.

Go to the saddest part of our story. Although there are secure solutions for almost every type of online communication, in order to use them, you will have to convince your interlocutor that "it is necessary". As the experience of Jabber fans suggests, it is impossible to do this without the intervention of large companies. Therefore, this review is rather futuristic - if all this is in demand, perhaps someone will someday learn to make money on it.

Protected messages

To send secure messages, the OTR (Off-the-Record) cryptographic protocol has been developed. To create strong encryption, the protocol uses a combination of AES algorithms, symmetric key, Diffie-Hellman algorithm, and SHA-1 hash function.

The main advantage of OTR over other encryption tools is its application on the fly, rather than after the message has been prepared and sent. It was developed by Nikita Borisov and Jan Goldberg. For use in third-party applications, the protocol developers have created a client lib. Therefore, in order to protect data transmission over IM channels, you can use specially designed applications for protection.

One of these projects is Cryptocat; it is an open source web application written in JS. There are extensions for Chrome, Firefox and Safari. In addition, there is a client application, but only for OS X. Cryptocat encrypts messages on the client and transmits them to a trusted server. To do this, on the client side, symmetric encryption of messages and files using AES-256 and a selected key is used. A new key is generated for each chat.

The other participants in the conversation - up to ten people in the room - will be able to read them only if they themselves correctly enter the same key. The Diffie-Hellman algorithm is used to securely transfer keys, the Whirlpool hash function is used to generate unique fingerprints during authentication, and HMAC-WHIRLPOOL is used to verify message integrity. The key management method turns Cryptocat into a perfect forward secrecy system where even the loss of the private key cannot compromise the session key. The correspondence log is deleted after 30 minutes of inactivity, and the service itself works with constant SSL encryption.

Private mail

The self-closing of the lavabit.com mail service, which Snowden took advantage of, became widely known. The service was closed after the special services made demands to provide access to the stored data.

It is difficult to find a complete alternative to Lavabit (except for self-hosted solutions), but VFEmail can be offered as a more or less secure service. It scans every incoming email and attachments for viruses and spam. If malware is detected, the message is blocked at the gateway and does not reach the server. The mail server supports greylisting and blacklisting, and the award-winning SpamAssassin system is used to detect spam. Work with VFEmail goes through the standard POP, IMAP, SMTP protocols, and the web interface is implemented over a secure SSL channel. Like most modern email services, VFEmail supports opening documents in the Microsoft Office browser. However, the secrecy of the correspondence received comes at a price. However, there is a free, so-called "copper account", which provides the user with 50 MB of server space for letters. To increase the space, you need to buy another, more advanced account.

Another project of this kind is Bitmessage, written in Python by Jonathan Warren. Bitmessage is a decentralized P2P program for exchanging encrypted messages between two and / or multiple users. It uses strong cryptography that reliably protects subscribers from eavesdropping at the ISP or server level. It is worth noting that the cryptographic system almost exactly copies the scheme that is used in the Bitcoin P2P system, but is aimed at messaging. The peculiarity of Bitmessage is that it is almost impossible to prove the fact of communication between two users: the message is not transmitted directly from user A to B, but by mailing to all network participants (a similar approach is implemented in Tor). At the same time, it can only be read by the user with whom the connection has been established and who has the correct decryption key.

The last project in this series that we will look at will be TorChat. TorChat is a free, decentralized, highly anonymous, crypto-protected instant messaging and file exchange system. All the code is open, and therefore, checkable. TorChat basically uses the anonymous Tor network, but it is a completely separate project. The anonymity of data transfer is entirely entrusted to the hidden services of Tor, TorChat, in fact, is just an add-on to them, dealing with message processing. Crypto protection of the connection of two users is also provided by hidden Tor services using asymmetric encryption according to the RSA standard. Initially, TorChat was written in Python, the client for OS X, respectively, in Objective C. In early 2012, the jTorChat project was launched, developed in Java. Until it implements all the functionality of the original TorChar, for example, there is no file transfer.

INFO

Although you can use the web interfaces of the instant messengers on mobile devices, there is an instant messaging tool under development that is specially tailored for mobile phones.

Mobile messenger Hemlis

Voice and video chat

With instant text messaging, we're anonymous, but what about voice and video messaging? Skype belongs to Microsoft, and she (according to Snowden's documents) was caught in the transfer of information to the special services.

Therefore, other options are needed. One of them was the Tox project - an open and free alternative to Skype. It uses a Skype-like P2P networking model to distribute messages, using cryptographic techniques to identify the user and protect transit traffic from interception. Supports text messaging, voice communication, video calls and file transfer. The work is organized through a simple and typical for IM-clients graphical interface.

One of the key tasks of the project is to ensure the privacy and secrecy of correspondence, including protection from possible traffic analysis by special services. To ensure user addressing, a distributed hash table (DHT) is used, the work with which is organized in the style of BitTorrent. The communication channel is organized using an add-on over the UDP protocol with the implementation of the session layer (Lossless UDP).

A special public key is used to identify each user, which is also used as a public key for encryption. A separate private key is generated to decrypt messages encrypted using an identifier / public key. To organize communications, a connection to a peer is required (each client of the network is a peer), which can be defined manually or found automatically (the function of finding peers in the local network is available).

Tox code is written in C and is distributed under the GPLv3 license. Linux, Windows and OS X platforms are supported. The libsodium library is used for encryption. The development functionality is still at the level of a series of test prototypes, a console client written using the ncurses library, and a graphical client based on Qt5.

In addition, GNU creates an alternative called GNU Free Call. This project aims to develop and deploy secure and self-organizing communication services around the world. SIP will be used as the base protocol in GNU Free Call, which is supported by the GNU SIP Witch VoIP server. The communication network is built using P2P technologies and has a mesh network topology, in which each client point of the network is connected through neighboring client points. The ultimate goal of the project is to create a VoIP network that resembles Skype in terms of capabilities and usability.

On the technical side, for the implementation of the project in GNU SIP Witch, in addition to the function of routing SIP calls, support will be provided to work as a secure VoIP proxy, the ability to store the host cache and perform the functions of exchanging routes with neighboring mesh network nodes will be added. Support for VoIP proxies will simplify the construction of user interfaces and the creation of applications for mobile devices, as it will provide support for receiving and making calls from any SIP-compatible softphones.

The GNU Free Call client software will support a wide variety of different software platforms. The network will have a completely decentralized structure, not tied to separate control servers.

Social networks

To protect your private data from the impudent eyes of special services, you can use free protected counterparts. They, of course, have much fewer users - 15-year-old schoolgirls taking pictures with oiphones, but so much the better. And the more users understand the importance of the privacy of information, and this is where everything goes, the more of them will go to secure social networks.

One such network is Friendica. The project was started in 2011 by Mike McGrivin. Friendica is a free open source social network hosted on GitHub. It provides a wide selection of connectors for a variety of social networks: both traditional (Facebook, Twitter) and new (Diaspora, Identi.ca). In addition, Friendica lets you exchange emails and read RSS feeds. If you make a photo private in Friendica, then it will actually be in private and no one (except, of course, the owner and the persons chosen by him) will be able to access it.

The next version of the social network called Red (which means “network” from Spanish) is currently under development. According to the authors, during the development of Friendica, the details were realized and the mechanisms for developing social networks were tested, so the next project will become even better and will be rid of the fundamental shortcomings of the first version.

Another secure social network we'll look at is Diaspora. This network is based on three basic principles. Unlike traditional social networks, where data is stored in one data center, that is, centrally, in Diaspora, as in many products protected on the web, data is stored in a decentralized manner. In this case, the data is not stored on a central server, but on pods - the computers of those users who provided them for this purpose. The second principle is, of course, freedom, who could doubt? The third principle is secrecy. Nobody except you has access to your data, and who can view it, you define yourself by setting permissions. And they act globally, that is, no one will violate them.

Outcomes

As you can see, it makes no sense to rush into a panic because of total surveillance. There are secure solutions for all the usual services: email, instant messaging, voice / video chat, social networks. If you use them, then no Big Brother (or a modest secret service) will get into your affairs. No one can stop the spread of information on the Internet! Use all the possibilities of the Web for your own purposes!

Like other types of communication, Internet communication also has a number of some peculiar features. To identify these features, an initial study was carried out, which included observation, analysis of text messages, conversations with users of various Internet applications serving communication. In addition, a survey was conducted of network users aged 21 to 30 years with higher and incomplete higher education of different sex and professional affiliation.

Based on the study, the following assumptions were made about the features of communication via the Internet:

1. Anonymity. This feature of communication via the Internet has a number of consequences. First, non-verbal means of communication lose their meaning in communication. Despite the fact that in text communication there is an opportunity to express your feelings using "emoticons", the physical absence of communication participants in the act of communication leads to the fact that feelings can not only be expressed, but also hidden, as well as feelings that the person is not experiencing at the moment. On the Internet, people are less often offended, because there it is pointless - you still cannot see how you are offended, on the Internet you can communicate with unattractive (externally) people, on the Internet you can talk on an equal footing with a person much older than you, and this does not interfere with communication. That is, on the Internet, as a result of the physical non-representation of communication partners to each other, a number of communication barriers are losing their significance.

Another important consequence of the physical lack of representation of a person in textual communication is the ability to create any impression about oneself of one's choice. In a virtual environment, it is possible to create any image for oneself, look whatever, be a creature of any gender of choice, therefore a person does not have any restrictions characteristic of the material world.

The anonymity of communication on the Internet enriches the possibilities of a person's self-presentation, giving him the opportunity not only to create an impression of himself of his choice, but also to be who he wants. That is, the features of communication on the Internet allow a person to construct their identity of their choice.

Despite the fact that it is sometimes possible to obtain some information of a personal nature and even a photograph of the interlocutor, they are not sufficient for a real and more or less adequate perception of a person. Due to such anonymity and impunity, another feature appears in the network associated with a decrease in psychological and social risk in the process of communication - affective liberation, non-normativity and some irresponsibility of the participants in communication. A person in the network can and does show greater freedom of speech and action (up to insults, obscene language, sexual harassment), since the risk of exposure and personal negative assessment by others is minimal.

• 2. The originality of the flow of interpersonal perception processes in the absence of non-verbal information. As a rule, the mechanisms of stereotyping and identification, as well as setting as an expectation of the desired qualities in a partner, have a strong influence on the idea of ​​the interlocutor.
• 3. The willingness and desirability of contacts. The user voluntarily makes contacts or leaves them, and can also interrupt them at any time.
• 4. Difficulty of the emotional component of communication and, at the same time, a persistent desire for emotional content of the text, which is expressed in the creation of special icons to indicate emotions or in the description of emotions in words (in brackets after the main text of the message).
• 5. Desire for atypical, abnormal behavior. Often, users imagine themselves from a different perspective than in the conditions of a real social norm, they play roles, scenarios, and abnormal behavior that are not realized in activities outside the network.

The reasons for turning to the Internet as a communication tool can be:

• 1. Insufficient saturation with communication in real contacts. In such cases, users quickly lose interest in Internet communication if opportunities arise to meet the corresponding needs in real life.
• 2. The possibility of realizing personality traits, playing roles, experiencing emotions that, for one reason or another, are not realized in everyday life.

These are far from all the reasons people turn to the Internet as a means of communication, because each person has some personal reason to turn to this source of communication.