Screen free week - WXOW News 19 La Crosse, WI – News, Weather and Sports |

Undated (WXOW) - Ever feel like technology is taking over your families lives? Now's your chance to disconnect.  

It's screen-free week, a week sponsored by the campaign for a commercial-free childhood.

This week, families are encouraged to go without watching TV, using the computer, or playing video games.  

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends limiting the screen time of children over the age of two to no more than one or two hours a day.  Experts say today's children and teens are spending about seven hours per day watching television or using computers, phones, and other electronic devices.  

Too much time in front of a screen can take its toll.  Experts have linked excessive use to obesity, irregular sleep, a decline in school performance and behavioral problems.

    
There are strategies that families can adopt to limit screen time.  Child experts suggest that parents keep TV's and computers out of a youngster's bedroom, discourage eating in front of the TV, and lead by example by offering children other fun family activities to choose from.