Mass Media - Human Being - Society: Specifics of Interaction in the Digital Age

The article analyzes the problems of interaction between modern media, the individual, and social groups. It shows the change in the impact of the media on the target audience in the movement of society from modern to postmodern and traditional media to digital. The article reviews the relevant sociological and philosophical concepts that comprehend the changing relationship between society and mass-media communicators – S. Zizek, A. Giddens, H. Blumer, D. McQuail, J. Baudrillard, R. Debray, S. Kravchenko, and others. Modern mass media is presented in the article as a specific social institution, which has all the means and possibilities to exert a powerful influence on society and the individual. Particular attention is paid to the processes of institutionalization of the mass media, which allows the latter to imitate the natural interactions of social groups and communicators, and thus imitate the method of communication itself. It is emphasized that in this way, the mass media expand their potential to regulate the social and political life of any country.