Why Digital Detox is Important
During Travels
Consider this: Now that many have been working from home over this past year, the lines between work life and home life have been permanently blurred and many people can now feel a necessary attachment to their devices. This attachment can carry with it a feeling of obligation to be constantly available to others. This feeling can also bring with it a high degree of stress and a feeling of needing a holiday, even from a holiday.
These stresses are not good for one’s health and thus taking a digital detox can be a thoroughly relaxing and enjoyable experience.
It is important to be able to distance oneself every once in a while from the need to be constantly available to others and to disconnect from one’s devices when on holiday so as to be completely immersed in nature without distraction and without stress.
What is ‘digital detox’ ?
Digital detox is the act of disconnecting oneself from their devices (such as smartphones, personal computers, tablets, etc) and otherwise utilising the time and focus that would be spent on those devices, enjoying life and getting familiar with one’s surroundings, and oneself again. This disconnection enables people to foster a connection with friends, family, nature and hobbies and enables them to step-back in the future and perhaps even minimise the time usually spent on the devices in the coming days. The ability to remain in the ‘here and now’ while not needing to spend copious amounts of time on devices is something that people commonly discuss, as perceived addiction to smart devices has many people frustrated.
Why is it important during travel?
Digital detox is an important way to take a break from the constant stresses of everyday life and the anxiety faced by needing to be ever present in our modern digital world.
Nature based accommodations such as those located deep in the forest, have set digital detox quite high in the getaway priority list. Of course, if there is a work emergency or an important deadline, almost all digital detox accommodations will offer the possibility for connection, as no-one wishes to lose important guests because they were unable to ‘connect’ when necessary. It is, in fact, quite the contrary. The accommodations which boast ‘digital detox’ are there specifically for the employee who is so necessary in their job that they are unable to disconnect, even for 2 days, and just take a deep breath and enjoy the nature. These people, are in fact, those which need the digital detox the most. Not because they enjoy the constant contact, but because others have become so accustomed to the instant gratification of reply, that these people are never truly able to just unplug and walk away, and enjoy life away from the constant demands.
Digital detox may not be suitable for everyone
While researching, we asked several people in various work life situations, how they would feel about a digital detox for the purposes of being able to enjoy a holiday in nature. While the majority were in favour of digital detox, some even feeling it a necessity as the lines between personal time and work time had been so blurred by working remotely, some good rational did surface for reasons why digital detox may not be suitable for everyone. One respondent in particular mentioned that the anxiety of wondering how many messages were piling up and what wasn’t being handled while they were away from their devices, made the concept of a digital detox holiday almost impossible. This is understandable, especially in regard to persons who carry a high responsibility at the workplace. Even though many accommodations which do encourage digital detox, do have accessibility when necessary, if the person is suffering from the holiday, it may not be of benefit to even try the digital detox.
This perspective raised the question ‘in what other circumstances might digital detox be so anxiety inducing?’ perhaps for entrepreneurs which rely on their devices to make a livelihood or parents with small children when the children are staying somewhere else and the parents need to be contactable in case of emergency.
Would you enjoy a digital detox during holiday so that you can foster a deeper connection with the wonderful nature?
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