I feel sometimes that my family is in a constant battle over media. My husband and I feel our children are on the iPhone, computers, TVs too much. (I’m sure I’ve forgotten some device that I’m nagging them to put away.) My children feel we need to practice what we preach.

I’m as guilty as my children when getting overdosed with media. I read the news on my phone while having coffee and check what my friends are doing via my Facebook news feed. At the beginning of the week, I video conference with my office and check an online chat board for work options. I check my email and get a reminder that “Screen Free Week” is May 1-7. I log onto my computer and Google to double-check that the name changed from “TV-Off Week” to “Screen Free” in 2010.

I find the shift in terminology so interesting. In a relatively short amount of time we have come to realize that turning off the TV has little to do with shutting down the constant flow of digital imagery. Movies are streamed, social apps blip updates, and texts replace calls. What does our digital future hold?

I’m a fan of anything that reminds me to take a step back from digital overload. The issue I have is that if my children were to go Screen Free for the week, they wouldn’t be able to go to school. They submit papers via Google Docs, watch videos to prepare for tests, and use Skype for study sessions. Teachers use Smartboards and YouTube for lessons. Students are given Chromebooks to use for class. Our society is digital full, not free, and when our jobs or school performance is pertinent to being digitally connected, opportunities to pull the plug are limited.

My family is not completely without rules. We don’t have screens upstairs where we sleep and certainly no phones at the dinner table. My children don’t use their phones until homework is finished or watch TV during the school week. We also have media-free family game nights and reading nights, but those nights are quickly replaced with sports and extracurricular activities. Movie night does seem to prevail. Digital media always manages to creep back into our lives.

Of course, I’ll repost this article to my blog and make sure that the Adirondack Family Time Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts are updated to let everyone know it’s time to turn off the media. Later on I’ll stream a Netflix show while I do my end of month billing.

Screen Free Week coincides every year with Children’s Book Week. Both events encourage children and adults to step back from our devices, get outside and play, reread a classic or discover a new favorite book. Going completely Screen Free may not be practical for my family, but having a discussion is a great opportunity for all of us to rethink how inundated and quickly we depend on our digital devices. However you choose to digitally detox, I hope the option is a relaxing one. My daughter wishes to reinstate game night. (I’ll have to tweet that later.)

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Diane Chase is the author of the Adirondack Family Activities guidebook series, Adirondack Family Time: Your Four-Season Guide to Over 300 Activities.” For more family-friendly activities go to www.AdirondackFamilyTime.com.