The Digital Era as a New Stage of Sociocultural Transformation: A Philosophical View on Changing Values

The purpose of this research was to reveal the mechanisms of the digital era’s influence on the sociocultural transformations of modern society and to develop approaches to harmonizing technological progress with humanistic values, as this was especially important in the context of globalization processes and the growth of virtualized forms of interaction. To achieve this goal, an interdisciplinary approach was used, which allowed for the combination of philosophical understanding of the dynamics of changing values, sociological analysis of an individual’s interaction with digital media, and cultural studies of the deep processes of transformation of cultural practices and the formation of digital identity. The study found that the digital era was one of the factors of sociocultural transformations, significantly changing the structure of values, cultural codes, and practices of human communication. The main attention was focused on revealing the peculiarities of the formation of new types of digital identity and rethinking traditional value orientations, including family, morality, humanity, and direct communication, under the influence of virtualized reality. The research findings showed that the process of constructing a “digital self” was accompanied by both increased opportunities for personal expression and increased risks of simplified virtual representation and increased dependence on external evaluation. Based on the results obtained, a number of recommendations were proposed aimed at developing critical thinking, raising ethical awareness, and improving educational programs in the direction of integrating innovative technologies with humanistic guidelines.