Whether you’ve been participating in Screen-Free Week since it was known as TV Turnoff Week, or this is your first year, taking a break from TV, laptops, smartphones, and video games is easier–not to mention more fun–when you’re taking a break with others!
It was an unusual week for some 8th graders in Julie Williams’ class at Grand Blanc West Middle School in Michigan. They started the week prior to May 2 by logging their activities for seven days.
From better health to better learning to better connections with family and friends, there are so many reasons to celebrate Screen-Free Week. Here’s another: reducing kids’ screen time is the primary way that parents can safeguard children from corporate marketers.
This month, I had my students write what I called “Activist Poems.” We brainstormed a variety of social issues that affect both adults and children.
We asked Screen-Free Week 2013 participants for their favorite moments and insights. Here are some of our favorite responses.
Hi, I’m Koa Halpern. I am 15 years old, and I started my own nonprofit when I was 10.
I don’t have a TV. There. I said it. I can picture your face, blank stare, uncomprehending. I’ve seen it hundreds of times. And then I have to launch into explanations. No, no television anywhere in my house.
Wendy Fiore is a language arts consultant at a Connecticut elementary school and a veteran Screen-Free Week organizer. We asked her about her experience planning over the years.
I don’t usually admit this to people, but my kids don’t watch much television.
I tend to keep this fact about my family quiet because I’ve found that people generally react in one of two ways: 1) they get defensive and feel the need to justify their TV choices to me, or 2) they completely dismiss me as a modern-day hippie who just doesn’t get what it means to live in the 21st century.