In Friday’s edition of the LaGrange Daily News, we’ll publish our Healthy Living Guide, which will focus on family health.

We don’t want to give away all the stories we wrote about, but we feel like the information is very useful, especially with children about to head back to school.

One of the people we talked to, Dr. Robert Martin with Emory Health, discussed the importance of finding a routine, putting down electronics and spending real family time together.

There are statistics out there that show Americans using electronics over 11 hours a day.

Studies show that some children use 75 hours of media a week between TV, music, Internet and video games. That’s a statistic that’s hard to believe.

The world is more connected than ever. That’s a good and bad thing.

It’s good because it means we can quickly call up friends and family from all over the world. We can video chat with people on the other end of the planet in just seconds and feel like they are right there in the room with us.

Of course, that also means work never ends.

We’re always reachable by text, email, Twitter, Facebook — the list goes on and on.

It’s kind of scary to think about. We use our electronics so often that there are countless moments that undoubtedly pass us by, some more important than others.

When the school year starts, the days go by so quickly.

Parents get up, make breakfast, get their children ready for school, drop them off, head to work and by the time the day ends, it’s much easier to watch TV or play on a phone than to actually get outside and do something else.

Don’t let that be the case.

Martin recommended having a box near the front door where everyone put their phones for a certain period of time each night. That’s a great idea, but if that doesn’t work, find something that does work for your family.

Time is precious and the days go by so quickly. Make sure to put down your phone, turn off the TV and enjoy as much of the day as you can.

After all, it’s only a few hours before the alarm clock goes off again tomorrow.