Spring is officially here and Tanner Health System’s Get Healthy, Live Well is encouraging the community to turn off the screens, go outside and turn on the world around them.

During Screen-Free Week — which runs from April 30 to May 6 — Get Healthy, Live Well will join thousands of schools, libraries and community groups nationwide in a coordinated effort to encourage Americans to turn off their gaming consoles, smartphones, tablets and televisions for seven days. Screen-Free Week is a chance for children to read, play, think, create, be more physically active and 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, community outreach coordinator at Get Healthy, Live Well. “Now, more than ever, it’s imperative that we help children discover the joys of life beyond the screens.”

On average, preschool children spend over four and a half hours a day consuming screen media, while older children spend over 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 the “TV-Turnoff”) 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 week’s founding in 1994, it has been celebrated by millions of children and their families worldwide. For more information, visit www.screenfree.org.

For more information about Get Healthy, Live Well, visit GetHealthyLiveWell.org.