ЭКСПЕРИМЕНТАЛЬНОЕ ИССЛЕДОВАНИЕ ВЕГЕТАТИВНОЙ НЕРВНОЙ СИСТЕМЫ ПОДРОСТКОВ С РАЗНОЙ СТЕПЕНЬЮ ВОВЛЕЧЕННОСТИ В ЦИФРОВУЮ СРЕДУ

Abstract

The modern literature records a high relevance of diagnosing the deterioration of the psychological health of the younger generation in conditions of accelerated digitalization, determined by psycho-emotional stress and is associated with the functions of the autonomic nervous system (ANS), the role of which has not been studied either in the formation of over-involvement with the Internet, or in determining the success of the development of educational programs by modern youth. One of the most important markers for assessing the activity of the ANS is the heart rate and its variability. Thus, the purpose of our work can be defined as the study of the relationship of heart rate parameters (R-R intervals) with the characteristics of digital preferences of adolescents. It is assumed that the choice of activities on the Internet, as well as the time spent on leisure, have certain connections with the characteristics of R-R intervals and its variability, with the predominance of activity of the parasympathetic or sympathetic links of the ANS. The study was carried out during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, which aggravated the psycho-emotional state of students. The author’s questionnaire “Digital preferences of modern teenagers” was used in the work, which had previously been tested on schoolchildren in Moscow. In a separate experiment on a part of the total sample of students (n = 24), a R-R intervals was recorded using a certified ECG device of the APK “Veda-pulse”. Registration was carried out individually with each subject, on average, ECG registration lasted 5 minutes. The characteristics of the behavior of the surveyed group of St. Petersburg schoolchildren have a high degree of similarity with all other surveyed groups of peers in Moscow and Lipetsk. The frequency-spectral parameters of the R-R- interval’s variability in a separate experiment are characterized by high variety, the maximum group variety is shown for the low frequency band (LF) of the spectrum of R-R intervals. A highly reliable positive relationship of priority interests on the Internet with the power of the spectrum of all frequency bands and with the gender of the subjects was found. Students' academic performance correlates positively and with highly reliably with the power of the super low frequency band (VLF) and negatively with the power of the low frequency band (LF). The results are discussed in the context of the interrelationships of students' academic performance, gender and interests on the Internet with the activity of their sympathetic and parasympathetic components of the ANS and the central link of heart rate regulation.