THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS OF IDENTITY TRANSFORMATION IN THE DIGI-TAL AGE: FROM ERIC ERICKSON TO MANUEL CASTELLS

The modern digital environment is fundamentally changing the process of identity formation. The traditional theories of E. Erickson and I. Hoffmann, who considered the "I" as a stable and integral structure, do not fully explain flexible and multiple forms of self-identification today. The main problem lies in the gap and lack of connection between classical scientific approach-es, which have lost their potential and explanatory capabilities in a new reality where identity is actively influenced not by internal psychological processes, but by the external logic of digital platforms, their algorithms and de-sign. It seems that the solution to this problem is to reevaluate traditional theories of identity and identify specific mechanisms by which modern digital technologies form a new, hybrid nature of the digital self