The Contribution of School Projects in the Fight Against Digital Game Addiction

Abstract

Virtual gaming addiction has become an increasing problem among children and teenagers. This addiction causes negative effects on individuals' economic success, social interactions and emotional states, and social values. Therefore, collaboration between educators, families, and health professionals is necessary to raise awareness about virtual game addiction and reduce the effects of this problem. SOBE (abbreviation in Turkish Virtual Game Addiction Training) is a unique school project initiated with the idea that there is a need to raise awareness among secondary school students about the effects of digital games. This research examines the impact of the SOBE project on 176 secondary school students with quantitative and qualitative methods. Within the scope of our project, ‘the Digital Game Addiction Scale’ was applied to 176 secondary school students with the support of the school counsellor. Parent-student seminars and information were given about the SOBE Project and the dangers of digital games. A mind and intelligence games club has been created in our school and the students are directed to intelligence games that will contribute to their socialization and develop their attention skills, contribute to their socialization instead of exercises and tournaments and virtual games. By providing training on Canva Web 2 tools, the beneficial and correct use of technology has been brought to the fore. Book reading activities and literacy interviews were organized. SOBE board game and SOBE storybook are designed to raise awareness about the conscious use of technology. The first editions were made and shared with the students of our school. During the implementation period of the project, bulletins containing announcements and explanations about our activities were published in student and parent groups. At the end of 12 weeks, with the post-test, it was examined whether our project was effective in the participants and it was determined that there was a positive difference.