A Bay of Plenty filmmaking whānau is encouraging tamariki to get off their devices and into the outdoors. 

Anton Steel, Kylie Dellabarca Steel and their sons Malachi (15), Judah (12) and Ezra (7) have created a web documentary series, Kids Unplugged.

The six-part series is about ‘real kids having real adventures’: tramping to huts, riding horses, gathering kai, building mountain bike trails and more. 

“Screen addiction for teenagers is a big problem, and we wanted to show a different way of life,” says Malachi.

The three boys host the series, which is aimed at 8-to-12-year-olds. “It is deliberately peer-to-peer,” says Anton, “with role modelling that young kids can relate to.”

During the Covid lockdown, Malachi, then 11, decided to get off devices outside of school hours. He built mountain bike jumps and camped in the back yard. His younger brothers soon followed suit.

But the whānau’s awareness of screen dependency, and the physical and emotional disconnection it can cause, goes back further. Malachi was born in 2010, the year that marked the shift from a play-based to a screen-based childhood, according to The Anxious Generation author Jonathan Haidt. 

“We began our parenthood journey with this tension,” says Kylie. “We decided to really limit screentime. We wanted our kids to love the real world so much that when they finally did get a phone, they would know what made them feel good.”

Says Judah: “When you’re scrolling, you’re getting lots of short bursts of dopamine – happiness with a swipe – but what I can relate to more is delayed gratification. Say you’re mountain biking or hiking: you have to bike or walk up that hill before you get to the fun part – and then the fun part feels that much better because you’ve had to work for it.”

Kylie says the family is “screen light” rather than no screen. “We’ve taught the kids that technology is a useful tool for work, but if we’re using it for recreation, that’s when we need to start being really mindful.”

When they’re not tramping, mountain biking, hunting or snowboarding, they enjoy Friday night movie sessions together.

“Outdoors is where our real connection as a family is built,” Kylie says.

– Kids Unplugged is available now on RNZ and YouTube