From Screen to Stage: Reduction of Smartphone Addiction of Adolescents via Theatrical Activities while Working in the Zone of Proximal Development

Context and relevance. Adolescents' overuse of smartphones is one of the most complex technological addictions that leads to an increase in screen time, a decline in academic performance, offline communication skills and social interactions. Today, there is a trend towards to developing methods to replace screen time on a smartphone with offline developing and socializing practices. The theoretical framework of the study is the provisions of Cultural-Historical Activity Theory and its conception of the Zone of Proximal Development and the role of “perezhivanie” the development throughout adolescence. Objective. To identify connection between the adolescents’ participation in a theatre project with the focus on the activity technology “Digital Theatre” and the reduction of problematic smartphone use. Hypothesis. Theatrical activities, organized in a form of a project that is based on experimenting with roles, can be used as an active and developing offline practice to reduce adolescents’ addiction to a smartphone via working with their’ ZPDs and creating conditions to increase the number of social contacts and develop interpersonal relationships with peers and adults. Methods and materials. The study participants (81 adolescents aged 14–15) were divided into two experimental groups (EG1 and EG2) and a control group. Pre- and post-testing were with the use of the Smartphone Addiction Scale adapted by V.P. Sheynov in 2020, and a one-time interview with the participants was conducted at the end of the study. Results. Statistical analysis showed a decrease in the level of smartphone addiction in adolescents with a high level of addiction as a result of 24 theatre sessions. Intragroup analysis revealed a significant decrease in the indicator of “tolerance” and a downward trend in the indicator of “daily-life disturbance” in EG2. In EG1, a downward trend was revealed in the integral indicator of “addiction” and the indicator of “overuse”. Conclusions. The activity technology “Digital Theatre” affects positively on the adolescents’ problematic use of smartphones through tries of new offline activities, extension of social horizontal and vertical contacts, vivid meaningful emotional experiences and progress along the ZPD.