I admit I’m an addict, a middle-aged social media addict. How do I know? Because of two things I did while on vacation last week with my husband and youngest son.
- It’s our 25th wedding Anniversary and we’re checking into a nice hotel on Pensacola beach, Florida. The first thing I ask before we get our room key is, “What’s your Internet access code?” Then I start thinking, perhaps we can order a bottle of champagne and say cheers in front of our laptops. The good news is my husband is an addict too, but not the BA kind (blogging addict), no he’s an FA (forum addict) the kind where people discuss cameras.
- My husband finds a great restaurant within walking distance from our hotel to celebrate our Anniversary. He’s dressed and ready to go and I say, “Let me just finish commenting on this friend’s blog and then we can go.” Is that sad or what?
Now that I’m back home, with no excuses to not get back in the swing of posting, I discovered this article, “Scrap holidays, bring on the ‘worliday’,” which made me realize that perhaps I should quit criticizing social media, and those who participate in it, and simply accept that, old-fashioned holidays are gone forever, and we now have to call them “worlidays.” Lucy Kellaway of the Financial Times, invented this word. Another term is the “workation.”
“Worliday is a bit like holiday and a bit like work. It’s the future for most professional workers – and actually, contrary to what most people would have you believe, worliday is really rather nice.” says Lucy Kellaway.
I think most of us are programmed to believe that vacations are about de-stressing and spending time with family, not checking our FaceBook, Tweets, or whatever else we do. Some experts believe we cannot recharge our batteries unless we “disconnect,” completely from work.
But Kellaway brings up a great point by claiming that we don’t:
” always respond well to a sudden cold-turkey immersion in idleness with the family in a strange place.”
I feel better after reading her article where she points out that prior to Internet days, it would take a good week to “unwind,” and relax and stop worrying about work. Since most Americans take a week or less off, I guess they never have enough time to “unwind.”
Benefits of taking worlidays
- There is no stark transition between work and holiday
- You can get away more often, since you’re still (sort of) working
Obviously this more flexible system may not work for professionals with fixed holidays and hours, however, certain companies like Netflix, allow their employees to go on vacation when they feel like taking one- no-one keeps records.
So are the good old-fashioned board game days of family vacations gone forever?
I think so. When people sunbathe with their i-phones and eat breakfast with their laptops and tablets, perhaps the newspaper is the only thing left of the good old days.
Are you in favor of worlidays or the traditional pre-Internet holiday?
Are you capable of a complete disconnect? If so what is your maximum time to stay away from the Internet?
