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Psychological Science and Education
2025. Vol. 30, no. 6, 87–104
doi:10.17759/pse.2025000003
ISSN: 1814-2052 / 2311-7273 (online)

From screen to stage: reducing adolescents' smartphone addiction through theatrical activities in the zone of proximal development

 
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Abstract

Context and relevance. Smartphone addiction among adolescents is a behavioral addiction characterized by impaired control, withdrawal symptoms, and functional impairments. Despite the high prevalence of the problem among adolescents, there is currently limited targeted research on possible solutions, including the drama approach. The presented work is conducted in the tradition of the cultural-historical scientific school, based on the ideas of L.S. Vygotsky about the zone of proximal development and the concept of “perezhivanie”. Objective. To evaluate the effectiveness of the “Digital Theater” activity technology for the prevention and correction of smartphone addiction in adolescents, to analyze the psychological and pedagogical aspects contributing to its impact. Hypothesis. Specially organized theatrical activities help reduce smartphone addiction among adolescents. Methods and materials. The study sample consisted of 81 adolescents aged 14-15 (two experimental groups and a control group). The adolescents participated in the "Digital Theater" program from February to May 2024. They took part in 24 drama sessions 90-minutes each. Participants completed pre- and post-testing procedures with Smartphone Addiction Scale (Sheynov, 2020). Additionally, qualitative interviews with adolescents were conducted (N = 18), teachers (N = 4), and parents (N = 2). Results. The analysis of the quantitative data allows us to conclude that there was a decrease in the tolerance indicator, as well as tendencies toward a reduction in the disruption of daily life, the overall addiction indicator, and the overuse indicator. The qualitative analysis reveals the nature of these changes, indicating that the study participants developed social interaction skills, strengthened their social relationships, preferred real communication over virtual communication, and acquired self-presentation approaches and skills as alternatives to digital methods. Conclusions. The "Digital Theater" activity-based technology may serve as a means to prevent and treat smartphone addiction in adolescents. The results are preliminary; further research is needed to assess the effectiveness of this model when applied to different youth groups.

General Information

Journal rubric: Developmental Psychology

Article type: scientific article

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17759/pse.2025000003

Funding. The research “Organization and psychological and pedagogical support of theatrical activities of teenagers at school: scientific and methodological complex” was carried out with the financial support of the Moscow State University of Psychology and Education as part of an internal competition for the implementation of scientific research work.

Supplemental data. Datasets are available from Khusnutdinova, M.R., and Poskakalova, T.A. (2025). Database of the test "Smartphone Addiction Scale," adapted by V.P. Sheynov. RusPsyData: Repository of psychological research and instruments. Moscow.

Received 30.07.2025

Revised 30.08.2025

Published

For citation: Poskakalova, T.A., Husnutdinova, M.R., Salomatova, O.V. (2025). From screen to stage: reducing adolescents' smartphone addiction through theatrical activities in the zone of proximal development. Psychological Science and Education, 30(6), 87–104. (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.17759/pse.2025000003

© Poskakalova T.A., Husnutdinova M.R., Salomatova O.V., 2025

License: CC BY-NC 4.0

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Information About the Authors

Tatiana A. Poskakalova, Research Associate, Center for Interdisciplinary Research on Contemporary Childhood, Moscow State University of Psychology and Education, Moscow, Russian Federation, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4932-0921, e-mail: poskakalova@gmail.com

Margarita R. Husnutdinova, Candidate of Science (Sociology), Senior Researcher, Center for Interdisciplinary Research on Contemporary Childhood, Moscow State University of Psychology and Education, Moscow, Russian Federation, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7688-0230, e-mail: husnutdinovaMR@mgppu.ru

Olga V. Salomatova, junior research fellow of the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research of Contemporary Childhood, Moscow State University of Psychology and Education, Moscow, Russian Federation, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1723-9697, e-mail: salomatovaov@mgppu.ru

Contribution of the authors

Tatiana А. Poskakalova — ideas; experiment conduction; empirical data collection; annotation, writing and design of the manuscript; planning of the research; control over the research.

Margarita R. Khusnutdinova — statistical data analysis, database development and empirical data process; visualization of research results, and writing the "Results of empirical study" section.

Olga V. Salomatova — literature review on the topic; general edit of the article text.

All authors participated in the discussion of the results and approved the final text of the manuscript.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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