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Today, the Internet is a key mechanism for distributing both reliable information and disinformation. On an unprecedented scale we are confronted with the problem of spreading false information online. Their overabundance and rate of growth has led to the emergence and continued growth of the phenomenon of infodemia. Living in a world of excess false information has serious consequences, especially for emotionally immature and cognitively adolescent users of digital space. In this context, the didactic activities of social institutions (including schools) to ensure and strengthen the information competence of children and adolescents become extremely important. The formation of the right attitudes and skills for receiving and using information is becoming one of the important elements of the process of media education of students today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents selected aspects of the process of cognitive functioning of the users of contemporary technologies and the Internet, with special consideration of the negative effects of being immersed in the digital culture. The introduction synthetically characterizes the digital world, focusing on the most active users of the virtual space. In the body of the text, the author analyzes the negative effects of an individual's functioning in the Internet space, especially those related to the change in the way of information acquisition and processing. The conclusions refer to implementing educational postulates connected with helping students develop the culture of behavior in the virtual space, involving as major elements the ability to distance oneself from digital media, to engage in deep reflection, and to organize and sort the acquired information. These skills are treated as crucial, ensuring the rational use of digital technologies. Focusing educational activities on the formation of youths' media competence offers them an opportunity of fuller intellectual development, the sense of security in the context of expansion of the media, and active participation in the information society by structuring the available information and the knowledge constructed on its basis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]