The article present the results of sociological monitoring conducted by the method of questioning in Saratov in 2022. According to the probabilistic quota-territorial sample, 698 young Saratov residents were interviewed. The results were processed in the SPSS program. The study showed that communication takes the fi fth place among the values of young people (after health, family, friendship and freedom). In the perceptions of young people, the most eff ective channel of communication is real "live" direct communication. They trust it the most. However, in practice, virtual electronically mediated intermediaries dominate. The more communication is valued, the more young people communicate using the Internet and mobile phones. The majority of young people (55.5%) are satisfi ed with the time of their communicative processes, which are synthetic by nature, where eff ective live communication of young people is relatively successfully complemented by telephone communication, but the eff ectiveness of Internet communications is assessed by them ambiguously. Peers are the main communicators for most young people. However, in the course of time, they need to share experience with younger ones and the circle of communicators increases. The oldest category of young people communicates more often and, at the same time, communicates more often than others by the phone and the Internet. Mutual empathy is the basis for the emergence of stable communicative processes in the youth environment. At the same time, sincerity is especially important for those who communicate directly. For those who communicate by the phone, openness, stability and common interests of hobbies are more important. It is of interest that, in the course of time, the importance of such qualities as selfl essness, stability and general experience of the events increases, but the role of sincerity, intimacy, attentiveness, common interests, sincerity of conversation, the opportunity to get advice or support in diffi cult times decreases. Several barriers for communication of young people have been identifi ed: problems of socio-territorial space; the inertia of inclusion, (the communicator's concern about other problems); anticipation to other people's thoughts, alexithymia (emotional coldness), stereotyping, ambition; rejection - the incompetent invasion of the communicator into the personal space of the recipient; loss of confi dence in the interlocutor.