Katarína Slobodová Nováková – Communication Today

THE IMPACT OF THE INTERNET AND SOCIAL MEDIA ON STUDENTS’ APPROACH TO COMMUNICATION AND PERCEPTION IN THE EDUCATIONAL PROCESS

Katarína Slobodová Nováková — Sun, 26 Apr 2026 00:15:42 +0000

ABSTRACT:

The integration of the Internet and social media into daily life has profoundly transformed not only access to information but also individual perceptions and behaviours. This pervasive digital presence, particularly amongst younger generations, has been associated with a decline in social and communication skills, as well as a noticeable reduction in attention spans. While the Internet and social media facilitate rapid task-switching, they have concurrently diminished the ability to sustain prolonged focus on a single task. Historically, sustained attention was measured in minutes; however, this duration has now been reduced to mere seconds, presenting significant challenges for the future. These shifts necessitate a re-evaluation of educational strategies, particularly regarding how educators communicate with and engage students. Adapting to these changes will be critical in addressing the cognitive and social implications of an increasingly digital world. The primary objective of this study is to establish a theoretical foundation for future research on the reviewed issue. For this purpose, this study used various existing surveys, datasets, studies, and literature evaluating the internet and social media and their impact on individuals’ perceptions.

KEY WORDS:

attention, communication, education, Internet, social media, students

16_Tothova-et-al._CT-1-2026 Download

DOI: https://doi.org/10.34135/communicationtoday.2026.Vol.17.No.1.16

Online Media Audience during the COVID-19 Pandemic as an Active Amplifier of Disinformation: Motivations of University Students to Share Information on Facebook

Katarína Slobodová Nováková — Thu, 23 Nov 2023 03:00:00 +0000

ABSTRACT:
Disclosure of disinformation has attracted increasing attention in recent years. The society recognises that false reports pose a real threat to the credibility of information and, ultimately, to the security of society. On the Internet an active audience is a distributor of media content because they are convinced of its truth, and in the online environment they find it in other people. Therefore, the audience seems to be an active amplifier of disinformation (sharing), and thus explicitly as a creator of (unwanted) web content (sharing and commenting). People’s willingness to share disinformation is linked to people’s similar attitudes; it is related to the similarity of faith and to the perception of the message, considered as appropriate and interesting (“I like it”), etc. The term “homogeneity” turns out to be a key term in audience research, and experts speak about a phenomenon that in fact appears to be the main driving force for the dissemination of any content. The aim of the research is to identify and classify the factors that motivate university students to share information on the social networking site Facebook.

KEY WORDS:
audience, conspiracy websites, disinformation, homogeneity, media content, social netweorking sites

11. TKACOVA et al. – CT 2-2023 Download

DOI: https://doi.org/10.34135/communicationtoday.2023.Vol.14.No.2.11