STORY PREVIEW

2021

“Online Gaming Addiction - Makes you a Dawdler, not a Game Changer”

Shree Niketan Matriculation Higher Secondary School

Tamil Nadu

MENTOR

Shalini Mohan

Step 1 FEEL

List the challenges or problems in your surroundings (school,neighbourhood etc.) that bothered you.

There are many problems which needs immediate solution in our surrounding: This includes i. Proper garbage disposal ii. School biking in spite of the court order iii. Water stagnation and flooding during rainy season iv. Due to online addiction, many students have lost their interest over academics With the prolonged closure of schools due to the lockdown and the transition of imparting education from traditional classrooms to online classrooms, has led to the increase in the use of internet and mobile by the students. This transition has also had its emotional cost on the children. The following were some of the challenges that we had encountered. Adamancy of the children to retain the mobile phone all the time with them. Students playing online games during their online classes. Children stealing money from their home to play online games. Involuntary action of fingers while listening to classes or while not having the gadget on hand. Entering into unhealthy arguments with parents when questioned about playing online games. v. Energy conservation- use of renewable resources vii. Food adulteration.

State the problem chosen to work and why.

Problem statement: "ONLINE GAMING ADDICTION MAKES YOU A DAWDLER - NOT A GAME CHANGER" During our parent connect program, the major issue highlighted by parents was that while students were attending online sessions, they were also found involved in playing online games. When they were questioned and rebuked, the students still resorted to playing online games rather than attending the classes. The parents were helpless and were seeking guidance to overcome this crisis of their ward. Further, during this one-and-a-half year of lockdown, the sedentary lifestyle of the students with very minimal physical activities and sticking to their gadgets, has led to many physical anomalies. Many students were found to have gained excessive weight and having visual problems. The social connection was diminishing as the students were spending most of their time with their mobile phones. The students also exhibited socio emotional behavioral changes tending them to become more introvert in behavior. There was wide range of lack of concentration in any activity observed in some students who had involuntary action of fingers as managing their gadgets.

Who were the people affected by the problem? What were their primary concerns?

Students of our school itself affected by the online gaming addiction. Their primary concern was that the screen time of the students were increased. These students preferred to be isolated even in the presence of their parents and friends. These students have many physical anomalies, visual problems, weight gain and socio-emotional changes. There was wide range of lack of concentration in any activity observed in some students who had involuntary action of fingers as managing their gadgets

Step 2 IMAGINE

List ALL the different solutions you came up with.

Our DFC squad after a thorough discussion of the issue came up with the following solutions: 1) Skit in English by DFC Team-“Online Gaming Addiction-The Weed to be Weeded Out.” 2) Webinar for parents. 3) Inter house competitions-Slogan Writing, Poster making, Paintings 4) Daily session of Yoga and Aerobics. 5) A session on traditional games. 6) Art and craft activities. 7) Learn with game-classroom activities. 8) Brain gym activities. 9) Parental Activities-Making Family Tree, Dinner time with Family, Meal Preparation along with kids, Indoor and outdoor games, Gardening Activities. 10) Mime-Online Gaming Addiction-Awake!!!Arise!!! 11) Notice Board Activities. 12) Title Song for the project. 13) To create an app to monitor students who get involved in online gaming with strangers. 14) I can-Logo-Rangoli. 15) An interactive session with the members of the Telecommunication Department seeking their advisory in trying to find out ways to curb online gaming and online gaming platforms. 16) Thirukurral-The possession of Decorum Chapter-Explained and made 1330 students to recite it in different sessions.

Which solution from those listed above did you choose to implement and why?

1) Webinar for parents. 2) Inter house competitions-Slogan Writing, Poster making, Paintings 3) Daily session of Yoga and Aerobics. 4) A session on traditional games. 5) Art and craft activities. 6) Learn with game-classroom activities. 7) Brain gym activities. 8) Parental Activities-Making Family Tree, Dinner time with Family, Meal Preparation along with kids, Indoor and outdoor games, Gardening Activities. 9) Notice Board Activities. 10) Title Song for the project. 11) I can-Logo-Rangoli. 12) Thirukurral-The possession of Decorum Chapter-Explained and made 1330 students to recite it in different sessions. As an alternative to gaming, involving the students in physical activities like art and craft, brain gym, yoga, aerobics and traditional games. These are easy to implement as well as we can ensure maximum student participation. Activities done in group will aid students to get involved in "healthy social interactions". With parent involvement in the activities, quality time with their children could be spent by them. Hence we came up with activities like meal preparation along with kids, dinner time together, gardening, family tree picture, indoor and outdoor games.

Step 3DO

Describe very briefly the process of implementing your solution(s).

First we imagined the list of activities that could stand as alternate to distract students from online gaming. Those activities are listed above (imagine). Then we scheduled time frame for the activities to be done in school for the students, parents and the general public. As part of the time frame, activities were conducted in batches first among students. Also, Yoga and Aerobic Sessions were scheduled on a daily basis and timely reminders were sent to ensure maximum participation. We conducted a webinar for parents as well as offline sessions for parents. We also scheduled a list of alternate activities that could involve both students and parents at home through discussion with parents and each parent individually prepared a time schedule for a week to spent quality time with their wards. We had also asked them to post pictures of those activities to us through whatsapp. The DFC squad ensured that each parent follows the schedule drafted at home without fail. All activities listed were shot as small videos and every day a video of the activity done was posted in the school facebook as well as in the whatsapp broadcast of each class for the parents and student to view.

What was the result or impact of your project?

1. Inter house competitions-Slogan Writing, Poster making, Paintings: No of participation - 1600 students, Time spent for these activities - 6 hours for each competition. Impact or result - Students understand the ill-effects of online gaming addiction through their slogans. Creative skill of students was increased. 2. Webinar for parents as well as offline sessions. No of participation: 3000 parents. Time spent for this activity: 3 Hours (Webinar). Daily 1 hour for a week (offline session). Impact or result: Parents are aware of the effects of the online gaming addiction and felt it as a turning point to bring a change not only with the kids but also with the family. 3. Yoga and aerobics: No of participation: 20 students for a batch and covered 1600 students. Time spent for this activity: 3 hours of yoga and 3 hours of aerobics for different batch of students on daily basis. Impact or result: Physical activities of the students were increased. 4. Parental activities (Dinner time, Meal preparation, Indoor and outdoor games, gardening and art and craft activities. No of participation: 3000 parents and 1600 students. Time spent for this activity: Daily 1.5 hours (time spent by the family with the kids). Impact or result: Interaction with family and social behavior of children were improved. 5. Traditional games: No of participation: 600 students in different batches. Time spent for this activity: 4 hours. Impact or result: Along with games they learned good habits such as sharing, truthfulness and honesty towards gaming. 6. Title song: No of participation: 11 students. Time spent for this activity: 2 days to write, compose and sing. Impact or result: Awareness was created among people about online gaming addiction. 7. Thirukural recitation on chapter “The possession of decorum”. No of participation: 1300 students. Time spent for this activity: 6 hours in different sessions. Impact or result: Learned about the possession of decorum which gives them special excellence in life

How many people were impacted by your solution(s)?

5000

What did the impacted people have to say about your project? Provide 2 quotes or testimonials:

With the array of activities by the DFC Team ensuring student involvement, parents largely felt that the mobile time usage of their respective wards have started dwindling. With each member of the family involved in the activities at home with the students, there has been remarkable improvement in the interaction and social behavior of students. The DFC activities that students were introduced to by our DFC team, has tended to slowly evolve as a hobby list for the students. Students have been seen spending time painting, poster making, gardening, doing yoga and aerobics at home which we feel is a small step of impact for the efforts taken by us (The DFC Team). Parents state that “The learn with game classroom activities” has really impacted the student’s interest towards academics making them try to invent and then learn. TESTIMONIAL 1: Mr. Kumar, F/O K.S. Tamilvendan, IX My son was totally addicted towards online games and was unable to concentrate in his studies. His daily screen time is more which prevents him from sleeping on time. We tried out to make him get rid of this gaming addiction by many ways and resulted in failure. It was a total surprise to me when my ward was doing his academic work regularly after getting awareness on online gaming addiction. He engaged himself in all the activities allotted by his teachers and made us also to participate in few activities like dinner time, traditional games at home. Now I am sure that he is gradually becoming alright and focusses into academics and socially involved with parents and friends. Thanks to the school management and the teachers for bring in such new ways of participation in offline activities. TESTIMONIAL 2: Mrs. Sivagami, M/O Varshini, X My daughter is very studious and active before the entry on online classes. After that, she involved herself more into isolation and developed interest over online games. As a mother I was worried a lot about my daughters online gaming addiction. She was not in a position to listen to me or to her father. We are unable to act hard with her. She behaves aggressive when her mobile is ceased. During this situation, The school and the teachers relieved our pain as parents from her online gaming addiction. They made her involve in reading habits, speech and participating in different classroom activities. She was attracted towards all the activities held in school and tries to replicate it in home without affecting her academics. Now she is almost out of the addiction. We are very thankful to the volunteers of DFC squad and wish them a successful future heading. The other testimonials have been shared in the school face book page and you tube

What challenges did you encounter while implementing your project, and how did you overcome them?

The first and foremost challenge was to make students realize that online gaming is not a pride and to make them understand the ill effects of online gaming addiction through animations, media information and live examples. The primary concern was not to create panic among the students and their parents and to make them use of their available time wisely at home especially. Since the COVID restrictions are in place and adhering to SOP and Safety Protocol is mandatory, we could not assemble large gatherings of the students as well as the parents. So each activity had to be conducted in small split up batches which required a lot of time. Roping in students to participate in the activities itself was a real challenge as most of the kids attended school only on alternative days in batches. The whole DFC squad itself was split into groups and each group was assigned the task of meeting at least 40 students per day and convince them to participate as well as brief them about the activities. Most of the parents are working parents (both parents). Fixing a meeting with them itself was a real challenge. The DFC team had to meet parents during late evenings when they arrived from home and brief them about the activities.

How long did it take to implement your solution?

7-15 Days

Which global goals does your story align with?

Good health and well being

Please explain briefly why do you think so?

When parents started to understand the prevailing pandemic condition, they started to complain about their wards behavioral issues at home. 1. Sleeping for long hours after playing games. 2. More than 7 hours of screen time for playing games. 3. Staying isolated. 4. Not responding to parents. 5. Being stubborn/ adamant. 6. Unable to accept the defeat in games. 7. Addiction towards junk food while playing games. 8. Increase in child obesity among the school children. Online gaming addiction makes them lazy, cause strain in eyes and loss of physical activities which leads to life style related disorders such as obesity, Juvenile diabetes, etc. This addiction also causes depression in mind, loneliness and loss of mental health. In some cases the mental health cannot be retained even by the health care professionals. Based on the above conditions, we feel that the students health (physical, social and mental) and well being are affected directly which may not be good for their future endeavors. Hence, the topic, "ONLINE GAMING ADDICTION MAKES YOU A DAWDLER - NOT A GAME CHANGER" was chosen. We feel happy and satisfied that an awareness had been created positively and confident to continue with online classes even if the pandemic persists.

Step 4 SHARE

How did you share your project with your school and community? Who did you share your project with? What was their response?

We updated facebook pages and YouTube channel of our school regularly with the activities performed among students and by our students. Thus far we have uploaded 15 videos. We have also shared the videos in whatsapp broadcast group to our parents. Articles of the ill effects of online gaming and the activities carried out at school were published in the Regional Daily “Dinakaran” and "Arasiyalmalar".

Approximately how many people did you share your story of change with?

More than 100

Briefly share your plan to sustain the impact of your project?

To sustain the impact of our project, we have planned to 1. Conduct aerobics session regularly 2. Conduct a survey on online gaming addiction in the schools in the district of Thiruvallur and share our successful strategies with those schools who struggle hard to guide online gaming addicted students. 3. Implement art and craft activities as their regular part of homework. 4. Conduct parental sessions every six months to follow on the status of the ward’s mobile usage time. 5. Continue and improve learn with games in classroom to increase their interaction and concentration towards reading and learning. 6. Regularize the brain gym activities to improve the fine motor skills of students. 7. Conduct various sessions, competitions and programs to increase the social interaction among students. 8. Make a comparative statement by conducting surveys on mobile usage time by the students every month to monitor and ensure that there is reduction in mobile usage time. 9. Regular awareness programs on Healthy Food Habits 10. Involving students in competitive exams, project designing, short film making, internship programs, inculcating reading habits and making them stay confident

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