Digitalization of Educational Space: Emotional Risks and Effects

Abstract

The article is devoted to the systemic problem of digitalization of the educational space, understanding its emotional risks and effects. The authors identified the fol­lowing emotional risks of digitalization of the educational space: 1) emotional alienation of students from classmates and teachers; 2) emotional deprivation caused by the “digital divide”; 3) emotional exhaustion due to information over­load and the dominance of visual-figurative perception of educational material; 4) emotional anxiety due to the totalization of digital control over the results of ed­ucational and extracurricular activities of students; 5) emotional deformations caused by the instability of students’ self-esteem. The article emphasizes the proba­bilistic nature of these emotional risks. The authors also pay special attention to identifying a number of emotional effects of the digitalization of the educational space: 1) emotional euphoria from wide access to digital learning among those who previously, for various reasons, did not have a full opportunity to receive a classical education; 2) emotional involvement of people with developmental dis­abilities in the digital educational process; 3) emotional positivity of students from the expansion of opportunities for entering secondary specialized and higher edu­cational institutions through digital technologies; 4) emotional connection with the participants of educational forums and other electronic educational resources; 5) emotional inspiration of students when they receive opportunities to form indi­vidual learning paths through digital technologies. The result of the study is propos­als on ways to level the emotional risks of digitalization of the educational space.