When school is out, there is a tendency to take lots of digital breaks.

With long weekends or school vacation my boys are ecstatic, but I am a little bit less so.  What begins as good intentions - "we'll go to museums, we'll do arts and crafts, we'll play board games as one big, happy family" - too often ends as, "let's watch the iPad." (Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, as this article will show you.)

So while I put some measures in place to keep my boys alert and interested, I thought I would share them with you.

Don’t ban all Internet-related activities.  If your family is like mine, you may have a mini-revolt on your hands.  Use the downtime to look at some things together online – if you’re on a ski vacation, how about checking out the history of skiing?  National Geographic puts out some beautiful and interactive history lessons on skiing.  A long weekend vacation with stormy skies? Why not check out some of Huffington Posts...

Tech Tale: How does a family who loves technology manage tech-free dinners?

Nathalie is the mother of an 8 year old boy and a 13 year old girl. Her children love technology and since they do their homework and household chores with minimal yelling, Nathalie hasn't imposed any strict limits.

But Nathalie has noticed something that is really displeasing: eating out with technology. Initially when the children were younger, Nathalie and her husband would go out to dinner and in order to have a bit of quiet time so that the adults could talk, Nathalie would hand over her smartphone while her husband did the same.

Little by little the family outings became less and less family and more and more tech and Nathalie now wants to recapture the family togetherness, but she's worried that it's too late. Her kids are too used to gaming and texting while waiting for their dinners to arrive.

How can Nathalie re-create the family dinners that she remembers when she was young? (You know, the family...

Tech Tale:

Vanessa is a working mother who uses her laptop and smartphone to conduct business when she’s at home. In between giving her children a bath and preparing dinner, she can often be found skimming her emails on her smartphone or checking the news alerts for updates impacting her business. If she is under a deadline, she may even set-up her laptop in the kitchen and work a bit while waiting to pull a roast out of the oven.

Vanessa thought she had a handle on it all, juggling work and home life in admirable fashion, until she overheard her children one evening:

“We can’t ask mom, she’s on the computer again.”

“She’s always working. She never wants to play with us.”

“Let’s hide her smartphone.”

And the guilt sets in.

. . .

You and I both know that Vanessa is by no means a bad mother. She is just like you and me, trying to make it all work. She reminds me of that Enjoli commercial from the 80’s: She’s...

What is a digital detox?

Basically a detox is just shutting down, turning off and stepping away from technology.  A detox, just like a food detox, is a chance to give your body and mind a much needed break or short rest from overindulgence.

And let's face it: we all indulge in our technology.

So join me for a digital detox this weekend? Or if you can't manage a weekend, how about for the evening?

Too hard?  Okay, try for just an hour.  The benefits might surprise you.

Write to me at [email protected] and let me know how your own digital detox went or share your personal success tips.

I would love to hear from you!