The Influence of Internet Communications on the Basic Values of a Metropolitan City Resident

The effectiveness of communication strategies depends on the congruence of public communications with the basic values of the target audience. The values can be defined as the phenomena of social reality and as figurative associations to information stimuli. Communications are built on the mental and linguistic basis of society; it reflects the values that are traditional for this society. In the digital era, basic values in the form of figurative associations are still an integral part of people's public consciousness. Due to the fact that associations are related to social attitudes of people, their assimilation and transmission of the system of values, this poses the question about the extent to which associations were modified under the influence of the digital and media environment. Associations explicate people's collective and individual perceptions that are currently continuing to undergo a modification. This article is based on the material obtained as a result of studying positive events of the residents of Krasnoyarsk. The respondents were offered to name an important positive event and three association words connected to it. The nature of a research method is mediated by the content of public consciousness, which reflects the social experience of people who live in the same territory, but in different conditions and possess differentiated knowledge, habits and interests. In addition, the specificity of the paper is the following: it focuses on the qualitative study of the main groups of words denoting these events. In the course of the study, the authors have come to the conclusion that the digital environment of a metropolitan city influences the worldview of metropolitan city residents and is perceived by them as a communication tool, the space for communication and recreation. The basic life values remain the same: relationships in family and with friends, childbirth, communication with nature and with animals, favourite activities, professional fulfillment, etc.