Introduction. Prospects for the study of information culture in world science are associated with identifying
the causes of information inequality and information poverty, solving the problems of information security and
information trust, highlighting points of growth and detecting the negative effects of the development of the
information society. The purpose of this study was to find barriers to the development of information culture
and study the digital adaptation of older people (of the “silver” and “golden” age) against the backdrop of the
COVID-19 crisis.
Materials and methods. The survey involved 500 respondents aged “45+” from the Kostroma region (Russian
Federation). The survey was conducted in a mixed format using a questionnaire developed by the authors: online
survey (published at: http://webanketa.com/forms/6cr3cchh6cqkadb460rp6css/ (100 respondents)), as well as a
personal survey method (f2f).
Research results. Against the background of adaptation to life in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, the
surveyed individuals of the silver and golden age revealed the following manifestations of information culture:
high coverage of gadget use, in particular, 95.3% of the respondents use a mobile phone, while 63.9% use a
desktop computer (whereas only 18.2% think that gadgets distract from more important things). The growth
trend of online shopping has been confirmed. More than half of the 45+ respondents in the Kostroma region
use the services from the Russian Portal of State Services (59.2%). The vast majority of older respondents (86.3%)
support the point of view that it is mandatory to comply with the rules of digital etiquette, and among the
respondents of the golden age, the ethical requirements for Internet communication turned out to be more
pronounced than among those of the silver age. The problematic areas of digital practices of older people, which
increase the subjective barriers to their use, are associated with the search for the necessary, in particular, news
information on the Internet (23.7%). Respondents also lack the skills of safe Internet communication (for example,
reckless behavior with letters from strangers); 61.6% of the respondents confirmed the desirability and necessity
for themselves of digital educational sessions on digital literacy.
Conclusion. Based on the literary material, the authors present an analysis of the terms that are in the semantic
field of the concept of information culture, it is emphasized that in addition to the technological component
of information culture and information literacy, a moral component is important. Against the background of
a generally favorable picture of the adaptation of older people to the digital world, a request for educational
programs on digital literacy, especially in the field of security, was identified.
Keywords: information literacy, informatization of society, information culture, barriers to the formation of
information culture, digital transformation, information society, information behavior, COVID-19 crisis.