Legal Aspect of Cyberaddiction Among Youth: Digital Risks and Peventive Measures

Objective: to substantiate the need for an integrative approach to legal and spiritual-moral education of young people under digitalization of society; to develop a scientifically based model for the prevention and correction of cyberaddictive behavior by synthesizing legal, pedagogical and ethical components.

Methods: the research uses a set of theoretical and empirical methods, including dialectical and systematic approaches, analysis and synthesis, modeling and forecasting. Comparative-legal and historical legal analysis was applied to study the evolution of legislation in the field of digital security. The authors conducted an interdisciplinary analysis of the achievements of computer science, sociology, psychology and pedagogy and used a system-structural approach to study the interaction of government structures, educational and civil society institutions.

Results: the study revealed significant fragmentation of legislation and the absence of federal digital hygiene programs, which hinders the formation of legal awareness among young people. The authors proposed a definition of cyberaddictive behavior as a complex personal and legal deviation affecting the basic behavioral norms and indicating a crisis of the value system. They developed a conceptual model to form the “digital immunity” of youth, integrating legal regulation, educational technologies, and psychological support. Key areas of improvement identified are the adoption of special legislative initiatives, the introduction of programs for the development of digital legal culture, and the creation of interdepartmental mechanisms for early diagnosis and correction of digital deviations.

Scientific novelty: the work conceptualizes cyberaddiction as a multidimensional legal and value challenge of the digital generation. An interdisciplinary model of education was developed that takes into account the transformation of legal consciousness under digitalization. New definitions of key concepts were proposed, as well as a systematic approach to the prevention of pathological forms of digital behavior. “Digital socialization” was conceptualized as a special area of legal education.

Practical significance: the results obtained are applicable in educational programs and standards; for developing the course “Fundamentals of digital legal culture”; for training accredited specialists in cyberaddiction prevention; for creating interdepartmental digital hygiene programs at the national, departmental and educational levels. The proposed measures contribute to the formation of critical thinking, digital literacy, self-regulation skills and resistance to manipulation in cyberspace among young people.