Abstract
This article is devoted to the study of the situation that has developed around online education in Russia at the present stage, considered on the example of teaching foreign languages. The text indicates that the socio-psychological characteristics of online education are well suited to the new generation of students, Generation Z, who grew up in conditions of free access to information and are fluent in information technologies. However, the transition to distance learning in March 2020 in connection with the coronavirus pandemic caused mass discontent. The article analyzes the causes of these contradictions, which are much deeper than the stagnation of the teaching staff or obsolescence of the material and technical base of universities. Also ways to overcome the contradictions between the classical education system and the peculiarities of cognitive activity of Generation Z are explored. It is concluded that the transition to e-learning is not so much about technological innovation but a search for a balance between the use of traditional educational methods and the solution of those tasks that are set by a new generation of students to their teachers, and the digital environment is a new reality in which the main thing happens - the interaction of generations.