Various forms of social media (SM) appear to be very popular among young people because they provide information and entertainment, including a wide range of web technologies such as blogs, wikis, online social networks, and virtual networks. SM plays a huge role in the lives of children and teenagers, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the computer becomes not only a means of entertainment or leisure, but also a necessary and everyday means of education and communication with other people. Thus, COVID-19 has brought a radical change, not only in the daily schedule and leisure time of pupils and students, but also in the perception of the procedures used by this specific group in the online space. Through our own research, using structured interviews and a questionnaire, we examine the use of SM as a tool to promote sustainable well-being in a group of high school students from various schools in central Slovak Republic (formerly Czechoslovakia). The research confirms that during the pandemic, the use of SM by the young respondents contributes significantly to well-being. This is the case when SM is used by high school students as a tool in promoting: (1) personal interests; (2) motivation; (3) communication and interpersonal connectivity; (4) preferred forms of online education; and (5) online games. The article presents a set of recommendations regarding the use of SM as a tool for sustaining the well-being of young people during the pandemic.

In the context of considerations on the potential attenuation of the negative consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic with the use of credible social media in online education during a pandemic, the subject of our own research was the fulfillment of two goals. The main research goals were to identify, categorize, and evaluate the possibilities of using social media in online education during the pandemic from the perspective of selected teachers and students from secondary schools in Slovakia. The research methods of the first phase (qualitative) of the research involved brainstorming among nine secondary school teachers. The second research phase (quantitative) used a questionnaire, which was completed by 102 high school students from all over Slovakia. The collection of both quantitative and qualitative data was used in this research. The research results revealed the most representative opinions of teachers on the current and real possibilities of engaging credible social media in online education and the views of high school students on their desired use and involvement of social media in online education. The intersection of the two findings presents a picture of the possibilities of using credible social media in online education, which can help maintain students’ interest in online education during a pandemic. Based on these findings, it can be stated that the opinions identified in the research group of teachers correspond to a large extent with the desired use of social media in education from the perspective of students. In addition, however, students would welcome more opportunities to use and engage social media in today’s online education. The result of this research is an analysis of social media patterns applied to online education, which are of greater interest to students and could act as elements for reducing the negative consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, i.e., six forms of online education and 24 educational activities that could contribute, inter alia, to mitigating the different negative effects of the pandemic among youth generation. The findings also benefit from the presentation of many specific options and recommendations for the use of social media in online education during a pandemic.

The unprecedented growth of prosperity in developed countries, including the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, interrupted by the economic crisis in 2008–2009, came to a halt at the beginning of 2020. This was due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 respiratory disease pandemic, for which no cure was known in June 2020. The response of governments in the form of declaring a state of emergency and closing national and regional borders for several months had serious economic and, above all, psychological consequences. Anxiety, depression, and possibly suicides were expected to increase. In this paper, we focused on the experience of happiness, understood as positive emotion, expressing the highest degree of well-being. The conceptualization of happiness is based on the analysis of six indicators. The aim of the paper was to explore the experience of happiness during the COVID-19 pandemic in Czechia. Two hypotheses were formulated in terms of the expected effects of this pandemic on the experience of happiness. Measuring happiness in one region of the Czechia on a scale of 0–10 using both face-to-face methods and social networks yielded different results from those expected.

The aim of this research was to compare the quality of life among University of the Third Age (U3A) students in Poland, where a novel method of educating seniors is being developed, with the quality of life among students at newly established U3As in Belarus and Ukraine, which have copied the Polish model. The research was also conducted to connect a range of socio-demographic variables with two explanatory ones: satisfaction with participation in U3A activities and the overall quality of life. A total of 515 U3A (N13) students from three Eastern European countries—Poland, Ukraine, and Belarus—took part in the research. The overall quality of life of U3A students was researched and expressed in the form of three components: stress level, sense of self-efficacy, and level of satisfaction with life. The following tools were used: PPS10 (Perceived Stress Scale), GSES (General Self-Efficacy Scale), and SWLS (Satisfaction with Life Scale). The research showed a statistically significant difference between the country of residence and the level of satisfaction with life, sense of self-efficacy, and the overall indicator of the quality of life. Polish seniors obtained higher results in all these areas when compared to their counterparts in Ukraine and Belarus.

The starting point of this theoretical article is the presentation of the issue of media manipulation in the contemporary digital media environment. The theoretical part is followed by a description and analysis of selected factors that create a belief of the individual’s resilience to digital media manipulative elements. Among the seven researched factors of an individual’s (non) resilience to digital media manipulation, we include: media illiteracy/literacy, thought activity/laziness, searching/not searching for “consensus” in the media, not emphasizing/emphasizing emotions, non-reliance/reliance on own intuition, non-credibility/credibility in the opinion of celebrities and automatic distrust/trust of recipients in the information presented in the media and others. We do not see the presence of manipulative elements in digital media as the main danger (manipulation is always in a sense part of the media message), nor the fact that manipulative elements have an effect on individuals (media—manipulative and non-manipulative—effects cannot be doubted). In our opinion, the very significant risk is the fact that the media message is followed by a false belief of the recipient’s own “immunity” against (covert and overt) media manipulation. The result of this false notion is the individual’s belief that manipulation in digital media content does not “affect” him (“I can easily recognize media manipulation”) and does not “touch” him (“It can’t happen to me”). Such a person then resembles a “house on the sand”, as his opinions, arguments or beliefs quickly collapse under the onslaught of five skills: challenges in the context of media literacy, critical thinking, strategies for verifying the credibility of information sources, the rational assessment of issues and reflection of reality. This original research article is a qualitative analysis of the legacy of ten Slovak educational initiatives focused on the issue of education in the context of media manipulation. The analysis focuses on the role of individual risk factors associated with resilience. The conclusion of the analysis is the elaboration of a positive proposal for the researched issue.

The paper outlines the adverse consequences and challenges induced by COVID-19 pandemic for the whole world and for universities in particular. The example of Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra illustrates the difficulties and challenges caused by the pandemic in relation to the two main activities arising from the university mission-teaching and research. It presents some particular aspects of the university activities adversely affected by COVID-19 and shares the measures to minimize the resulted damages. Furthermore, it demonstrates that, despite complications induced by COVID-19, teaching, research, and international cooperation have been successfully continued.