Back away from the television. Hide the Xbox. Stash the video iPod.

A national campaign to get parents and their kids to go without television, video games and all other potentially mind-numbing electronic devices with a screen for one whole week starts Monday.

D. Aileen Dodd/Staff (ENLARGE)

Mother Ann-Marie Serafin says her family spends plenty of time outdoors away from TV. Her two children Mathew, 8, and Meghan, 10 play recreation baseball and softball at Rhodes Jordan Park in Lawrenceville.

Organizers of "Turnoff Week" say the obsession with keeping wired to electronic media is taking a toll on healthy lifestyles and relationships. That's why the Center for Screen-Time Awareness is asking families across Georgia and the nation to go cold turkey on TV and the like through next Sunday so they can spend more together reading, exercising, talking and enjoying each other. According to the organization, Americans spend an average of seven hours of face time each day on attention-grabbing "screen media." More than four of those hours are on TV viewing alone.

"We are really dependent on screens for our entertainment, information and communication," said Robert Kesten, executive director of the Center for Screen-Time Awareness, who traveled to California, New York and Mexico last week to kick off the campaign. "Investing too much time in a virtual world takes away from living in the real world."

Turnoff Week comes at an opportune time in Gwinnett County because thousands of elementary and middle school students will be taking standardized exams.

Principals like Dot Schoeller at Simonton Elementary in Lawrenceville have already alerted parents and students that they may need to do more reading this week and get to bed earlier. Some parents have even vowed to take away TV and game time to help their kids perform better on exams without even knowing about the national campaign to get families unplugged.

Jann Jackson of Lawrenceville says her son, Brandon, a first-grader at Jackson Elementary School, will be tuning out during test week. And she will too, in observance of Turnoff Week.

"[This] week is the CRCT — it is the perfect week for this," Jackson said. "We will focus on reading, do practice tests ... sit and talk."

Sherri Boucher, a past PTA president at Simpson Elementary in Norcross, is observing Turnoff Week by default. As a family rule, she doesn't allow much TV time on school days. Boucher's third- and fifth-grade girls have a busy schedule and little time to view TV anyway.

"Whether it's test time or not, it is usually one night a week that they may get to watch TV," she said. "It's a treat."

At least one Gwinnett County school received hundreds of pledges from students, parents and faculty that they would skip TV for a week.

J.G. Dyer Elementary in Lawrenceville celebrated a version of Turnoff Week in late February as a school community because that's when the PTA had the observance on its calendar. Students who participated signed pledge cards saying that they weren't watching TV overnight and describing what they did instead.

"It has been a big deal here for years," said Principal Donna Torbush. More than half of the school's 670 students participated. "I got feedback from parents that the first day or two for the kids was tough, but once they went outdoors for a walk and had fun doing other activities, they really enjoyed it and didn't seem to miss TV at all."

Dyer student Emma Eidson said she'd rather play outside than watch TV any day. She encourages her mother, Patti, to join her. "Sometimes TV is so boring, I'd rather take the dog for a walk," the 8-year-old said.

According to the American Obesity Association, more than 30 percent of children ages 6-11 are overweight.

Encouraging the entire family to take on Turnoff Week is essential.

Kesten advises parents to declare a family mandate that, "This is what we are doing," and not leave it open for debate. He asks that parents also participate. That means no baseball or basketball, no "Grey's Anatomy" or "American Idol."

"I know it's a scary thought," Kesten said. "You can find other ways of getting that information which are equally interesting and probably even ultimately more rewarding. Newspapers and magazines will tell you what's going on with 'American Idol' and local sports teams."

If you don't think the family can last an entire week without TV or video games, start small. Aim for three days unplugged or just a weekend, says parenting expert and author Stacy DeBroff of www.momcentral.com, who participates with her children in Boston.

"Go hike Stone Mountain, for goodness' sake, get on that rock vista and look out," she said. "You will find out, it's a blast."