'You really don't need your phone as much as you think': Two Gen Zers 'unplug' to connect with nature (2024)

Kai Humphrey, 17, admits to spending most of his time in front of a screen.

The secondary student from Bendigo in regional Victoria says he's on his computer up to five hours a night doing homework and gaming, and eight hours a day on his phone.

"My headphones are practically fused to my head."

It's this acclimation to technology and disconnection from nature that sparked the idea for a competition by the North Central Catchment Management Authority (NC CMA) to find a couple of Gen Zers to "unplug" from technology and spend five days kayaking and camping along the Bendigo Creek.

And in classic selfie style, the trip will be filmed on GoPros by the two chosen Gen Zers, with a documentary crew in tow, so it can all be shared and liked on YouTube.

The challenges ahead

After handing over their phones, the next challenge is the creek itself.

Bendigo Creek emerges from Big Hill near Crusoe Reservoir, winding right through the middle of Bendigo, and then squiggles its way north to join up with Mount Hope Creek, ending at Kow Swamp near Gunbower.

Parts of it are highly urbanised, looking more like a big concrete and bluestone drain in Bendigo's CBD, while other parts run through suburbs, farmland, recreational riverside parks, swampy marsh, and managed national parklands.

You can't kayak the entire length like you might its northern neighbour, the Murray River.

That was a bit of a surprise for Kai and fellow Gen Z traveller, 21-year-old university student Jessie Manuelyan, when they learned how to kayak a few days before their trip.

"So, we'll be hiking a bit. I'm good at hiking. I think kayaking is where I'm going to struggle, but I'm excited," she says.

Both have camped before, but Kai says he's actively avoided it ever since.

"I reckon there were maybe one or two camps and I absolutely despised it," he says.

"I like the comfort of my room and being into the more suburban street life."

Jessie is a self-confessed Candy Crush fanatic from Melbourne, currently at level 6,000 on the popular tile-matching video game with 16,640 levels, and always has her phone within reach.

She also spends a great deal of time online for her nursing and business administration studies, but she jumped at the chance to unplug for five days and experience more of the great outdoors than just beachside holidays.

"I never thought I would do anything like this, and when I saw the opportunity, I had to take it."

The only concern for Jessie, who did outdoor education in high school, is encountering wildlife.

"I'm just afraid about the snakes … bugs, spiders and snakes. Yeah, we'll have to tackle that when we get to it."

Unplugging from technology

Brad Drust from the NC CMA is keen to include more of this untapped generation's voice in local environmental work.

The CEO says, as an organisation, it has found the voices of young people often aren't as loud as they should be, "given their stake in the future".

"There's a saying that we don't inherit the earth, we borrow it from our children and, while these Gen Zers aren't exactly children, they've got a big stake in the future of our natural environment."

"So, this is about getting Gen Zers off their devices," Brad says.

"Good things come from disconnecting and getting into nature, all the wellbeing benefits that we know about, but also good things for the community more broadly as they then take up a louder voice in the management of our natural environment."

Brad is hopeful that posting videos of the journey on social media will help build a profile in that Gen Z cohort.

"Getting them connected to the work that we do, and the opportunities, they've got to have a voice in the work that we do," he says.

Five days up a creek with paddles

To begin the journey, Jessie and Kai were welcomed to country by local Djaara man Jason Kerr who shared with them the significance of the creek and surrounding landscape to the Dja Dja Wurrung people.

A traditional smoking ceremony cleansed any bad spirits, the smoldering native leaves clearing the way ahead for the adventurers and also connecting them to their new surroundings.

Along the way, they tested the water quality and planted trees with primary school students at Huntly just north of Bendigo, where the creek starts to revert to a more natural state, and learned about bush tucker and bush medicine at a significant cultural heritage site by one of the area's traditional owners.

They were attacked by bugs, slipped in mud along the creek edges, it rained for their last two days, and they had to wheel their kayaks almost as much as they paddled in them, but they came out of the experience all smiles.

"From pulling the kayaks to climbing over trees, all the tears, spiders, animals, falling down in water, being lost in the dark, and then just yelling at each other … it's been phenomenal," they laugh.

While Jessie admits to screaming at every spider they encountered for the first two days, she was far more "chilled" about them at the end of the trip.

"Orb spiders, I saw probably 5 billion of them. I was like, it's just making its web. It's over there in the corner. It's doing its little thing."

But did they miss their phones?

"I really struggled. I was looking for it in my pocket all the time… but also missing that social contact with friends and family," Jessie reflects.

"It was really weird for the first couple of days, not calling my mum, not speaking to my partner, not speaking to my friends … it was really hard getting used to that the first couple of days."

Kai agrees everything was tough for the first few days, but his attitude has definitely changed.

"Sitting there and watching a meteorite go across the sky, [with] no light pollution at all, I was like, 'I don't need a phone' to capture this, this is a moment for me.

"I don't feel like I've ever been so peaceful with myself."

Jessie recommends everyone, not just Gen Zers, should unplug every now and again.

"I've really been connecting with the outdoors for the past couple of days, and you really don't need your phone as much as you think."