Tanner News

Tanner Health System’s Get Healthy, Live Well will join thousands of schools, libraries and community groups nationwide in a coordinated effort to encourage millions of Americans to turn off televisions, smartphones, tablets and gaming consoles for seven days and turn on the world around them.

Screen-Free Week is a chance for children to read, play, think, create, be more physically active, and to spend more time with friends and family.

“Screen-Free Week is a much needed respite from the screen media dominating the lives of so many children,” said Patricia Mitchell, wellness and prevention coordinator at Get Healthy, Live Well. “Now, more than ever, it’s imperative that we help children discover the joys of life beyond screens.”

On average, preschool children spend more than four and a half hours a day consuming screen media, while older children spend more than seven hours a day, including multitasking. Excessive screen time is linked to a number of problems for children, including childhood obesity, poor school performance and problems with attention span.

Screen-Free Week (formerly TV-Turnoff Week) is coordinated by the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, a national advocacy organization devoted to reducing the impact of commercialism on children. Since the event’s founding in 1994, it has been celebrated by millions of children and their families worldwide. For more information, visit www.screenfree.org.