During the weekend of August 30–31, 2025 at the Dublin Maker Festival , the Green Screen Day initiative, developed by iConnect Lab, invited young participants to explore a new way of using their phones and tablets.

Instead of scrolling or streaming, children created videos and storytelling using natural materials to capture imaginative digital content. With guidance from workshop leaders, they told nature-inspired stories, and filmed themselves within the sets they built, blending art, ecology, and media.

Rooted in Ecomedia Studies

The Green Screen Day initiative was grounded in the emerging field of Ecomedia Studies, which explores how media, the environment, and technology intersect. This academic approach encourages critical thinking about the material and cultural impact of digital devices, from the resources required to manufacture them, to the ways they shape our relationship with the natural world.

By integrating these ideas into a child-friendly workshop, Green Screen Day gave families the tools to rethink their digital habits. It wasn’t just about learning to use technology creatively, it was about using it responsibly, with awareness of its ecological footprint and its storytelling potential.

Children left the workshop not only with videos and handmade props but with a sense that their devices could be more than just distractions. They could be windows into the world, shaped by their own stories, grounded in the real and natural environment around them.