Chapter 1: The Digital World or the Real World?

Ali woke up to the sound of his phone alarm. It was early in the morning, but as soon as he opened his eyes, he reached for his phone. Notifications were pouring in like rain. There were hundreds of messages from his online chats with friends, influencers he followed, and news sites. One headline caught his eye:
“Digital world has no impact on the environment! Carbon footprint? What’s that?”
Without thinking, Ali shared the article. “Everyone should know this,” he thought. But a voice inside him told him he should question whether it was true. However, he quickly silenced that voice. After all, everyone else was doing it, right?

At school, his teachers were talking about cybersecurity and environmental awareness. But Ali’s attention had already drifted. He was glued to his phone screen, watching a popular video. What was being discussed in class was just background noise to him.

That night, as he lay in bed, he plugged his phone into the charger and decided to browse the internet a bit more before going to sleep. However, as his eyelids grew heavy, the phone slipped from his hand and he fell asleep.
In his dream, Ali woke up in a completely different world. A thick grey mist surrounded him. The sky wasn’t blue anymore; it was dark grey. Giant screens were flashing all around him. A huge message appeared on one of them:

“DIGITAL FOOTPRINT IS DESTROYING THE FUTURE.”Ali rubbed his eyes. “What is this?” he wondered. Just then, an elderly man wearing a white lab coat appeared. He was holding a large digital tablet displaying numbers, graphs, and calculations.“Your digital carbon footprint has brought the world to this point, Ali,” said the scientist. “The news you shared without thinking, the unnecessary videos you watched, the devices you left on all the time... They are all threatening the future of the planet.”

Ali panicked and looked around. “But I was just... just spending time on the internet like everyone else,” he mumbled.
“So, what will you do now? How will you change the future?” the scientist asked. 

Ali decided that the only way to escape the dystopian world he had seen in his dream was by becoming a more conscious user in the digital world. He began using his phone only when absolutely necessary. He stopped wasting time on social media and started sharing only reliable and meaningful information. He limited his video watching to content that contributed to his learning.

Additionally, he began purchasing eco-friendly products and made an effort to use his digital devices more efficiently, turning off unnecessary ones. He also paid attention to deleting unnecessary data from his devices and saving energy. Ali realized that creating change in the digital world wasn’t just about individual effort. So, he decided to start a campaign at school.

He organized an event called “Digital Clean-Up,” where he taught his classmates about the importance of being conscious users in the digital world. During the event, everyone deleted unnecessary files from their phones and recycled old devices. They also discussed ways to live a more eco-friendly digital life. As part of the campaign, they collaborated with other classes to reduce digital footprints and improve energy efficiency.

His classmates began to act more responsibly and consciously in the digital world. Ali decided to spread his campaign on social media, and the school’s accounts shared posts with the hashtag #ConsciousDigitalLife. This hashtag quickly became popular among other students, and the effort to raise environmental awareness in the digital world spread rapidly. Ali’s initiative quickly reached beyond the school, creating awareness in a wider community.

Ali realized that the changes he was making to be more conscious in the digital world should not be limited to just himself. His campaign helped raise a generation of more responsible digital users, which was an important step for future generations. Through this process, Ali understood how much impact being a responsible digital user could have and aimed to spread this conscious lifestyle throughout society.

CHAPTER 2: One Click = More Carbon

Zeynep and Can were working on a project in the school library. The topic was quite interesting: Digital carbon footprint. Their teacher had told them, "Everything you do on the internet has an environmental cost," but this idea seemed strange to them. "How can just sending an email affect the environment?" asked Can.

Zeynep did a quick search and immediately came up with some data:
-A Google search emits 0.2 grams of carbon.
-Unnecessary emails cause millions of tons of carbon emissions every year.
-Storing all the videos on YouTube requires massive amounts of energy from data centers.

The two of them looked at each other in astonishment. "Shall we test this?" Zeynep suggested.
So, they decided to analyze their internet habits for 24 hours. Can watched videos on YouTube for an hour and noted how much data he consumed. Zeynep cleaned out her unnecessary emails and measured how much space she saved. In the end, they realized that even small changes made a big difference.

However, during the experiment, a question popped into their minds:
"How can we spread this information to more people?"

Zeynep and Can decided to take action to raise awareness about the environmental impact of being a conscious digital user. They planned to increase environmental awareness through school campaigns and app development ideas.

They thought about starting a campaign at school to explain the environmental effects of simple actions in the digital world. As part of this campaign, Zeynep and Can would put up posters about the digital carbon footprint around the school and give short presentations in classrooms to inform their friends. They would also raise awareness among students to limit their screen time, delete unnecessary emails, and be more mindful of the digital content they consume.