Aussie parents are sending their tech-addicted children to military boot camp

Most parents know the struggle to get teenagers to put down their smartphones, laptops, tablets and assorted iThingies.

A group of former Australian soldiers saw a gap in the market and decided to help those parents by creating a special nine-day boot camp for tech-addicted teenagers.

Parents who want their teens off their phones can get the former soldiers to deal with the issue by enlisting their offspring.

Upon arrival at the boot camp, all electronics are confiscated as there is a strictly "no technology" policy.

"The second they get on our bus we take their phones and any technology they have off them straight away," Glenn Filtness of Veteran Mentors told 7 News.

"We have kids coming in that are lacking self-confidence and addicted to technology," he added.

Exercising outdoors is a strong component of the nine-day boot camp programme.

The soldiers running the camp come straight from the frontlines of Afghanistan and Iraq and are well versed in applying strict routines.

The camp is meant focus on "doing real stuff, forming real relationships, not this stuff they're doing on a screen".

"It's very tough for the participants and that's why it's effective – if it wasn't tough it wouldn't work," Filtness added.