The article relevance is to study such a social phenomenon as the artistic and aesthetic needs of modern youth in conditions of self-isolation. It is important to take care not only of economic development during a crisis, but also of spiritual development that helps to cope with anxiety and stress during a pandemic. Culture in General, and art in particular, the attitude to it and the need for it-this is one of the most important indicators of social conditions and psychological health in a stressful situation. Therefore, special attention should be paid to finding out the popularity of certain media channels among students during the period of self-isolation, as well as their role in communicating with art. The purpose of the research is to study the features of artistic and aesthetic needs of modern youth in a situation of forced self-isolation. Research methods: as a research method, we used semantic differential, which allows us to get the necessary information, avoiding direct questions about needs; the method of incomplete sentences, which allows us to identify unconscious spiritual needs. Research results: the article considers the features of students’ spiritual needs in conditions of self-isolation. The level of spiritual needs’ development of students of Humanities and technical faculties is determined. The novelty and originality of the research lies in the fact that the features of modern students’ spiritual needs during the period of self-isolation are described for the first time. It is shown that the students’ spiritual needs are quite complex (there is not enough simple entertainment, educational and cognitive elements must be present, which must also dominate the entertainment), but in conditions of self-isolation, the needs are often reduced to something easier, entertaining, leveling the educational and cognitive elements. It is revealed that the main source of knowledge about art during the period of self-isolation is the mass communication media, primarily such as the Internet and television. It is determined that the entertainment aspect, which young people often confuse with art, dominates these sources. It is determined that students’ expectations of meeting with art are distributed in the following order: upbringing, cognition, hedonism. It is revealed that entertainment and pleasure obtained during self-isolation are an important part of art impact on a person; however, the bias is directed towards hedonism. It is determined that every third student considers the art of the past centuries as the best. It is revealed that students will characterize the past art as a reflection of public culture, and the modern art as a reflection of individuality. Practical significance: the data obtained in this work can be used in social psychology, age psychology, pedagogy, psychology of art, as well as for further theoretical development of this issue.