The Digital Detox: How to Break Away from Work While You're on Vacation

With Labor Day weekend right around the corner, many of us are getting ready to enjoy some well-earned vacation time. In today's world, however, breaking away from the office means more than physically not being there. Between waking up with our smartphones to checking social media, most of us will find ourselves responding to emails, returning voicemails and interacting with Facebook when we should be soaking up the paid time off. In fact, a recent TripAdvisor survey of 16,100 employed respondents reported that 77% percent of U.S. respondents say they have worked on vacation during the past year, with 91% stating that they check work e-mail while they're away.

One of the ways we encourage our employees to break away from the office is through a digital detox. A digital detox is a period of time where an individual switches off his/her cell phone, tablet, laptops, and computers. Instead of recharging your phone, you're recharging your own batteries, spending quality time free of screens, text notifications and other digital distractions. Most experts recommend starting with a full day, but you can go cold turkey or build up to a greater length of time. This New York Times reporter did it for a full week!

The digital detox involves a single step: turn off ALL of your digital devices. (It's surprising how many people find this difficult to do!) To reduce the anxiety of disconnecting, there are a few ways you can make the transition a little easier: 

1. Set a goal for your digital detox. Why do you want to do this in the first place? To spend quality time with family or friends? To have uninterrupted thinking time? To truly relax? This will help keep you motivated during your down time. 
2. Schedule it at a good time. We recommend a vacation, but any holiday or day off would do well for this exercise. 
3. Announce your detox, if you must. Set up an out-of-office reply for your work e-mail or post it on social media for friends, family and business contacts to see. 
4. Make plans to keep yourself busy, especially during the first parts of the detox. A lot of people find they reach for their smartphones during down time or long waits; by planning activities, you'll be able to see the benefits of not feeling like you're "on call" all of the time.