Cypriot Journal of Educational Sciences Volume 15, Issue 5, (2020) 1262 -1275 www.cjes.eu The phenomenon of "digital" death: formation and genesis of the attitude to death in social networks of students Vera B. Nikishina *1 Psychology and Social Faculty, Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University, Moscow, Russia. http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2421-3652 Marina V. Sokolskaya 2 Department of Social Work, Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University, Moscow, Russia. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5693-2021 Oksana A. Musatova 3 Department of Social Work, Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University, Moscow, Russia. http://orcid.org/ORCID 000-001-8893-4059 Oksana A. Musatova 4 Department of General psychology and labor psychology, Institute of psychology and pedagogy, Russian new University, Moscow, Russia. http://orcid.org/ORCID 000-001-8893-4059 Irina M. Loskutova 5 Department of Theoretical and Special Sociology, Moscow State Pedagogical University (MSPU), Moscow, Russia. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4939-6045 Irina V. Zapesotskaya 6 Department of Health Psychology and Neuropsychology, Kursk State Medical University, Kursk, Russia. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3535-5779 Oksana Y. Bogomolova 7 Department of Psychology, Far Eastern State University of Railway Engineering, Khabarovsk, Russia. http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9929-3143 Suggested Citation: Nikishina V.B., Sokolskaya M.V., Musatova O.A., Loskutova I.M., Zapesotskaya I.V. & Bogomolova O.Y. (2020). The phenomenon of "digital" death: formation and genesis of the attitude to death in social networks of students. Cypriot Journal of Educational Science. 15(5), 1262 - 1275. https://doi.org/10.18844/cjes.v15i5.5166 Received from June 15, 2020; revised from August 15, 2020; accepted from 20 October 2020. Selection and peer review under responsibility of Prof. Dr. Huseyin Uzunboylu, Higher Education Planning, Supervision, Accreditation and Coordination Board, Cyprus. ©2020 Birlesik Dunya Yenilik Arastirma ve Yayincilik Merkezi. All rights reserved. Abstract: In this paper, we study the phenomenon of “digital” death, its genesis and the attitudes towards death in the context of social networks. As a result of the investigation we have discovered different forms of “digital death and the ways people react to it in social networks. We further investigate the origins of different user attitudes towards “digital death” and the impact of manipulative relation to death in social networks on the social reality. Some people stage their own death on social networks by posting images on their homepage, which has the intentions (i) to attract public attention, (ii) to express their autoaggression (iii) to make fun of death and (iv) to reduce their own anxiety of death by "sharing" the fear with other people. Our analysis shows that the main purpose of staging one’s death on social networks is to reduce the fear of death by creating plans, playing. Keywords: cyberspace, social networks, death, "digital" death, attitude to the death in the social networks. * ADDRESS FOR CORRESPONDENCE: Marina V. Sokolskaya, Department of Social Work, Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University. 117997, st. Ostrovityanova, 1, Moscow, Russia. E-mail address: VBNikishina@mail.ru / mvsokolskaya@mail.ru