The Unbearable Lightness of Loneliness in the Digital Realm

   Relevance. Digital existence changes the corporeality and spatiality of an individual. It persists them to enrich and accumulate new ideas and things. On contrary to physical reality, digital reality possesses various "doors" and "mirrors" that help to travel through space and time which distracts from the current reality. On the one hand, a smartphone user desists to stand on the sideline and talk to those who have common interests. Physical existence in solitude, on the other hand, can’t be equal to loneliness due to a distinctive sense of repudiation those are near and vice versa. The individual uses the digital products to escape a feeling of loneliness meanwhile they might lose track of time and, therefore, a chance to have some time to be alone with themselves. New thoughts and assumptions, values, and views can be helpful when there is time to digest, to stay quiet on their own. The illusion of escaping the clutch of loneliness the Internet brings about increases human tension in reality and impedes them to release of their "I". And the latter is one of the very few choices to stay in solitude for a while.
   The purpose of this paper is to examine term "loneliness" and experience one undergoes in two dimensions: real and digital.
   The objectives of this study are: define the phenomenon of loneliness in digital context; compare the terms of "loneliness" and "solitude"; study the particularity of loneliness in contemporary realm.
   The methodology of our study consists of historical method that helps to reflect on different approaches of the change of the concept of loneliness, method of systematic analysis that let to find out the modern features of loneliness and solitude. The base of theory and methodology are the studies of the Russian and European philosophers, politicians and sociologists studying the issue of loneliness and solitude,
   The results revealed the terms use of loneliness and solitude in digital context. We distinguished solitude and loneliness. The given outlines can help in further studies on loneliness in digital context.
   Conclusions. A person needs communication to feel alive. Correspondence in chat rooms leaves an imprint on the hours of life lived in the form of the number of new notifications, extracting the personality from reality. However, such an exchange of information rather distorts the perception of our own "I", because there we are who we want to be with the help of cheap tools, while in reality we need to work hard to achieve the desired result. And if in reality solitude can become a way to be alone with your thoughts, then loneliness can disarm an already weak person.

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