Klaipėdos universitetas

Medias make impact on social environment – they influence individual interrelations, communication, approach to oneself and entire world, “insist” on certain stereotypes in different situations. They take active part in socialization of individuals. Socialization is perceived as a continuous lifelong process, in which values, standards, social state, roles and patterns of social behaviour are mastered. The article analyzes impact of media (social agents) in socialization processes of individuals.

In most cases the internet has a positive effect on its users – it offers unrestrained communication, expression of opinions and sense of openness. On the other hand, excessive usage leads to internet addiction. The most important features of the internet include rapid spread of information and news, access to tremendous amount of information, personalization and anonymity. After the literature review of theoretical research of authors from Lithuania and abroad, and application of theoretical analytical, resumptive, analogical, deductive and comparative methods, the features of XXI century media literacy were identified. A questionnaire allowed to examine the internet’s specifics and nature of users’ media literacy online. Empirical research was conducted to analyse the internet users’ behavior based on age groups as well as to identify their level of literacy. A big part of today’s daily activity and free time is related to usage of the internet media. Many services take an online form. Therefore, the issue of Lithuanian users’ online behavior becomes a concurrent to the development of welfare society, and media literacy gets to be one of the necessities for future skills. Instead of searching for and passively using the given information, internet users start to make their own, evaluate it and spread further. The users are enabled to fashion their private social networks, they become responsible for organization of the whole personal communication infrastructure. This research points out the main reasons of Lithuanian internet users not using e-services: the lack of media literacy and insufficient spread of the service-related information. The biggest difference in literacy among age groups was noticed while evaluating personal predisposition to internet addiction. Levels of literacy based on age groups were significantly different in terms of ability to critically evaluate online information.

The paper presents the corruption issue by highlighting the actual situation of corruption in the Slovak society. This problem has a historical background when after 1993 the Slovak Republic was separated from the Czech Republic. The author offers theoretical attitudes which are necessary to apply in practice for to improve situation in Slovakia. Theoretical information was gained from relevant sources. The author tries to apply official results from Transparency International and other institutes. The media has great effect on public opinion and therefore investigative journalism should be developed which could uncover media property and corruption in the whole society. Journalism should be independent of politicians. It should be objective, full of truthful information with verifiable sources. In the last part of the paper some solutions are suggested which should be applied in practise as they can help to address corruption solutions. In other words, necessary measures may support the healthy environment with social welfare and spur development of the society.