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Computers, PDAs, TVs, and cell phones: Whether I like it or not, a large portion of my waking hours is spent utilizing them. Between work and personal time, I can rack up 12 hours a day staring back at digital screens.

I’m not sure when so much screen time became routine and acceptable, but as a busy working mom, over-scheduling has become second nature and a digital life is the only way I seem to be able to stay connected to the world around me.

Then again I'm not the only digital junkie in the house – my five year old daughter Maya logs an equally impressive number of hours, blissfully basking in the glow of the TV or computer screen, channel surfing between Disney and Nick Jr. or playing Webkinz for what seems like hours at a time.

According to TV-Free America, a national not-for-profit organization, our children are exposed to more than 20,000 thirty second commercials each year. While an average American youth spends about 900 hours in school each year, the same child may watch up to 1,500 hours of television that same year. Even though not all programming is necessarily a bad influence on our kids’ development, I couldn't help but wonder what kind of long-term effects this kind of screen time would have on my daughter.

With national TV-Turnoff Week on the horizon (April 20-26) and my husband on the road for business, I dared to see what would happen if I stopped my techno-guzzling cycle and banished electronics from my household for a week. I could refocus my physical and mental energy on re-cultivating interpersonal relationships and also hoped to teach my daughter that there is life without her Leapster.

Ahu Terzi is a freelance writer New York.