Spring break promises breathing room. Fewer alarms. Less rushing from one place to the next. But for many families, that extra time disappears into screens—a parent replying to emails, a child on YouTube, everyone technically together but mentally elsewhere.

That’s not a failure of willpower. Screens are designed to fill gaps. The moment things slow down, they step in.

Unplugging doesn’t mean banning phones or declaring a full digital detox. It means choosing, in a few key moments, to protect shared attention. Because attention is where connection actually forms—and without it, even long stretches of “time together” can pass without anyone feeling closer at the end.

Summer promises freedom. Fewer schedules, later nights, and that hopeful idea that kids will be outside more and glued to screens less. 

But for many families, the reality looks different: one quick episode turns into half the morning, tablets sneak into car journeys, and suddenly it’s dinner time and no one’s quite sure where the day went.

A digital detox for kids doesn’t have to mean strict rules or taking devices away in a dramatic stand-off. It’s really about creating space; space for boredom, for movement, for conversation, and for those slightly chaotic moments that don’t come with an on/off button.