Breaking Free of TV:
1. Reduce the number of TV's in your house to one. The more sets you have, the more opportunities for family members to spend hours watching them.

2. Make the TV less accessible to children by moving the television set to a less visible, hard to reach location and hide the remote control.

3. Cancel your cable or satellite dish subscription. Use the money you save to pay for fun family activities.

4. Remove the TV set from your child's bedroom. A television in the bedroom draws their attention away from family activities and distracts them from homework, reading, thinking and sleeping.

5. Keep the TV off during dinner. Meals are a great time for family conversation.

6. Place clear limits on TV watching. Allow 30 minutes each day or 1 hour every other day. Try being positive, instead of saying "You can't watch TV" say, "Let's turn off the TV so we can?"

7. Designate certain days of the week as "TV-Free Days."

8. Avoid using the TV as a reward or a punishment. This gives the TV more power.

9. Avoid using the TV as a babysitter. Involve children in household activities, like folding laundry or helping to prepare a meal.

10. Be a positive role model by reducing your TV viewing time as well.

Breaking Free of Recreational Computer Use:
1. Establish a family policy that the computer is to be used mainly for work-related and/or homework-related projects.

2. Limit recreational use of the computer for video games, and browsing the web to a maximum of 3 hours per week.

3. Rediscover books and encourage your children to read.

4. Use alternative sources to the internet for information such as newspapers and books.

Sources:
Tips to TV-Proof Your Home, (2001) retrieved on July 6 2005 from http//www.tvturnoff.org/proff.htm

Leeds, Greenville and Lanark District Health Unit. (2004). Year Round Ideas to ... Break Free of TV. Retrieved on July 6, 2005 from http://www.healthunit.org/physact/tvturnoff/tvturn_off 2005.htm#Community_