Screen Free Week

Celebrate Screen Free Week! Rediscover the joys of life beyond the screen. Plan to unplug from digital entertainment and spend all that free time playing, daydreaming, creating, exploring and connecting with family and friends!

Check back to see more events as we plan them.

From the Screen Free Week organization...

WHAT is Screen-Free Week?
Screen-Free Week is an annual, international celebration when families, schools, and communities swap digital entertainment for the joys of life beyond the screen. Instead of watching TV, surfing the web, or playing with apps and video games, they read, play, think, create, get active, and spend more time with family and friends.

Remember, Screen-Free Week is about taking a break from digital entertainment. You can celebrate, and still use devices for work or school. But if screens of any kind interfere with family time (including meals), you may want to rethink how and when you’re using them.

WHY Celebrate?
Regardless of whether children are consuming “good” or “bad” programming, it’s clear that digital entertainment dominates the lives of far too many kids, displacing all sorts of other activities that are integral to childhood. Excessive screen time is linked to poor school performance, childhood obesity, and attention problems. And it is primarily through screens that children are exposed to harmful marketing.

Screen-Free Week is a fun way to reduce our dependence on digital entertainment, including television, video games, smartphones, tablets, and computers. It’s a chance for children—and adults—to power down and reconnect with the world around them.

WHO and WHERE?
Anyone can participate by simply refraining from using digital entertainment during Screen-Free Week. But experience tells us that it’s more fun – and much easier – to go screen-free with others. That’s why we hope you’ll become a SFW Organizer.

You can organize Screen-Free Week in a classroom or entire school, with a scout troop, faith community, neighborhood association, at your local library or with any community group. Organizers and volunteers promote the week, reach out to partners, and help children and families discover fun, screen-free activities. If you can’t organize a whole week, consider hosting a screen-free event!