{{Short description|Annual event}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2019}} {{Infobox recurring event | name = Screen-Free Week | date = Officially first week of May | frequency = Annually | first = 1994 | URL = {{URL|http://www.screenfree.org}} }} '''Screen-Free Week''' (formerly '''TV Turnoff Week''' and '''Digital Detox Week''') is an annual event where children, families, schools and communities around the world are encouraged to turn off screens and "turn on life". Instead of relying on screen-related media such as television programming or video games for entertainment, participants read, daydream, explore, enjoy nature, and spend time with family and friends.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://screenfree.org/about/|title=A Week of Rediscovery|website=Screen-Free Week|access-date=2026-04-06}}</ref>

In 2010, Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC) (rebranded to Fairplay) became the home of Screen-Free Week at the request of the Board of the Center for SCREEN-TIME Awareness (CSTA), which ran the initiative since 1994. CCFC launched a new website and developed a new Organizer's Kit, fact sheets, and other materials for Screen-Free Week 2011 and beyond. The Screen-Free Week Organizer's Kit is available as a free download.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Resources |url=https://screenfree.org/resources/ |access-date=2026-04-07 |website=Screen-Free Week |language=en-US}}</ref>

==History== In 1994, the week was first championed by TV-Free America and its founders Henry Labalme and Matt Pawa<ref>{{Cite web |date=1998-04-26 |title=Taking on — and turning off — the TV culture Henry Labalme gave up on television years, ago. For four years, he’s argued that all of America should do the same. New, he says, TV might just be awful enough to make that happen without him. |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/1998/04/26/taking-on-and-turning-off-the-tv-culture-henry-labalme-gave-up-on-television-years-ago-for-four-years-hes-argued-that-all-of-america-should-do-the-same-new-he-says-tv-might-just-be-awful-enough-to-mak/ |access-date=2026-04-07 |website=Baltimore Sun |language=en-US}}</ref>, and promoted by Adbusters magazine and other organizations<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Cisar |first=Katjusa |date=2009-06-12 |title=Adbusters founder says 'digital detox' can provide epiphany |url=https://captimes.com/entertainment/city_life/adbusters-founder-says-digital-detox-can-provide-epiphany/article_815b7372-4d88-518f-9cbd-8e66432b832e.html |access-date=2026-04-07 |website=The Cap Times |language=en}}</ref>.

In 2008, Adbusters changed the name of '''TV Turnoff Week''' to '''Digital Detox Week''' to reflect the growing predominance of computers and other digital devices.<ref name=":1" />

CCFC changed the name of TV-Turnoff Week to Screen-Free Week in 2010, since entertainment media (and advertising) are increasingly delivered through a variety of screens (computers, hand-held devices, etc.), and not just traditional television commercials.

In January 2025, CCFC handed over control of the event to International Play Association USA as CCFC stepped away as main contributor.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |title=Screen-Free Week |url=https://fairplayforkids.org/screen-free-week/ |access-date=2026-04-07 |website=Fairplay |language=en-US}}</ref>

==Members and supporters== Important members of the network include Adbusters in Canada<ref name=":1" /> and White Dot in the UK<ref>{{Cite web |title=International TV-Turnoff Week |url=http://www.whitedot.org/issue/fix_tvturnoffweek.asp |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170804220638if_/http://www.whitedot.org/issue/fix_tvturnoffweek.asp |archive-date=2017-08-04 |access-date=2026-04-06 |website=White Dot}}</ref> (named after the small white dot that would briefly appear when turning off older TV sets, especially black-and-white ones). In Brazil, Alana promotes the {{Lang|pt|Semana sem telas}}.<ref>[http://alana.org.br/semana-sem-telas-2013 Semana sem telas 2013]</ref>

More than seventy other organizations, such as the American Heart Association, the American Medical Association, Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, the YMCA, and the Association of Waldorf Schools of North America (AWSNA) support the movement in the US.{{Citation needed|date=April 2026}} In 2004, the American Academy of Pediatrics also backed up the event.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Korioth |first=Trisha | date=2016-05-02 |title=FYI: Screen-Free Week resources |url=https://publications.aap.org/aapnews/news/10212/FYI-Screen-Free-Week-resources?_gl=1*89xorf*_ga*ODEzMDE3NjI0LjE3NDE4NzAwMjE.*_ga_FD9D3XZVQQ*MTc0MTg3MDAyMS4xLjEuMTc0MTg3MDU1MC4wLjAuMA..*_ga_GMZCQS1K47*MTc0MTg3MDAyMS4xLjEuMTc0MTg3MDU1MS4wLjAuMA..?autologincheck=redirected |language=English | publisher=aap.org}}</ref>

==See also== *Culture jamming *Digital addict *Digital detox *''Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television'' *History of television *Media psychology *Social aspects of television *Television studies

==References== {{reflist}}

==Further reading== * {{cite book | last=Postman | first=Neil | author-link=Neil Postman | year=1985 | title=Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business | publisher=Penguin | location= USA | isbn=0-670-80454-1 }} * {{cite book |author=Postman, Neil |title=The Disappearance of Childhood |publisher=Vintage |location=London |year=1994 |isbn=0-679-75166-1 }} * {{cite book |author1=Jean Lotus |author2=Burke, David |title=Get a Life! |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing PLC |year=1998 |isbn=0-7475-3689-9 }} * {{cite book |author=Cheryl Pawlowski |title=Glued to the tube: the threat of television addiction to today's society |publisher=Sourcebooks |location=Naperville, Ill |year=2000 |isbn=1-57071-459-2 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/gluedtotubethrea00pawl }} * {{cite book |author=Marie McClendon |title=Alternatives to TV Handbook |publisher=Whole Human Beans Co |year=2001 |isbn=0-9712524-0-8 }} * {{cite book |author=Winn, Marie |title=The plug-in drug: television, computers, and family life |publisher=Penguin Books |location=New York |year=2002 |isbn=0-14-200108-2 }} * {{cite book |author=Ellen Currey-Wilson |title=The Big Turnoff: Confessions of a TV-Addicted Mom Trying to Raise a TV-Free Kid |publisher=Algonquin Books |location=Chapel Hill, NC |year=2007 |isbn=978-1-56512-539-1 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/bigturnoffconfes00curr_0 }} *{{cite web | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2006/04/21/DI2006042101226.html | title=Turning Off the TV | newspaper=The Washington Post | date=24 April 2006 | accessdate=23 December 2008}}

==External links== *{{Official website|http://www.screenfree.org/}} *[http://www.commercialfreechildhood.org/ Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood] *[http://www.adbusters.org/ Adbusters Media Foundation]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Screen-Free Week}} Category:Recurring events established in 1994 Category:1994 establishments in the United States Category:Child welfare activism Category:Television organizations Category:Awareness weeks Category:Television terminology Category:History of television in the United States Category:May observances