Forget a day-long social media blackout. Take yours and your family’s tech-usage up — or well, down — a notch during Screen-Free Week 2025.

Celebrated annually during the first week of May, the worldwide initiative, which this year falls from May 5 to May 11, 2025, began as TV Turnoff Week in 1994, and in 2008 became known as Digital Detox Week (when computers, cell phones and personal devices came more prominently into the fold). It’s since become a full-fledged movement to take a break from all aspects of tech with one common goal: to get adults, kids and communities at large out and doing the activities they love, and interacting with people in real life instead of digitally.

So, how can you take part? 

Plan fun activities ahead of time. There are hundreds of ways you and your children can play and engage without a screen. Start with these 101 screen-free ideas for the whole family, which include fun things to do at home, outdoors and around your neighborhood.

Read up on its benefits. Research has shown that devices can have detrimental effects on a kid's brain development. Using devices smartly and in moderation could lead to better sleep, better grades and better lifelong habits, according to research. Even a few days off will do the mind and body good!

Use this time as an excuse to read more. Here’s a pretty exhaustive list of new kids books being released in 2025 — and if you can, try to carve in some time for your own reading enjoyment too.

Get other people involved. Ask if your kid’s friends, teachers or sports coaches want to join you in your unplugging. Having someone doing it with them might be the motivation your child needs to put down their devices for seven days straight.

Turn it into a competition. How many of the activities on this Screen-Free Week Bingo board did you and your family knock off the list? Do you need to extend into a second week to finish out the list?

Here at Starglow, we don’t dismiss the benefits of screen time, especially for education; and entertainment purposes, but we stress the importance of balancing screen time with other activities too. Going screen-free for even one day, never mind seven, is probably hard for most of us, but who’s up for the challenge?!

Will you be partaking in Screen-Free Week 2025?

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