The rapid development of new media has been the main force accelerating the trend of globalisation in human society in recent decades. The goal of this papers to explain the role and the impact of the media on human relationships and in the construction of societal reality. To reach these goals, the term of digital communication is explained, that can be defined as electronic transfer of digital coded data. Social relationships in the context of digital media are analysed, especially their impact on direct communication, that is, face-to-face communication. Special attention was paid to digital media as communication tools. Digital media are those media that use computer technologies to produce, distribute and present media content, and are characterised by digitalisation, convergence, interactivity, hypertextuality and virtual space. They are use in every sphere of human life, and their importance is especially visible in the domain of education and journalism. Internet can be seen as the highest achievement of mass media, but also as an instigator of change of what were known patters of human interactions. The importance of media literacy, the ability to consume information gathered by mass media and to critically think about them, was established. The components of the interventions to achieve media literacy are explained, as well as their methods. Positive and negative impacts of new media are studied, especially on the child development in this globalisation era. Among positive impact on media we see learning new skill and adopting positive behavioural patterns. Research shows that negative effects of media exposure include emotional and behavioural problems, obesity, development of eating disorders, substance abuse like alcohol and cigarettes. Especially problematic seems to be prolonged exposure to violent scenes in the movies or playing violent video games. That type of exposure is connected to worse school achievements, violence and delinquency.