E-Mail is Bad on Vacation

I just got back from a week in Hawaii and learned a very important lesson. I should say I re-learned a very important lesson: Avoid e-mail and as much technology as possible while on vacation. As usual, I brought my laptop so I could stay up on my e-mail. Each time I would turn on my computer, I would have at least one message that required immediate attention. It got to the point where I started getting mad at people for sending me work to do while on vacation. Then I realized that while some people knew I was out of the office, not everyone did.

Friends asking me to help with things in the neighborhood or with Scouts assumed I was just away during the week like I normally am. They didn't know I was trying to get some rest before the chaos that happens in the video game industry right as Christmas approaches. Once I realized that people were not going out of their way to upset me on vacation, I also figured out that the best way to keep from getting angry was to stop reading e-mail and checking my phones. In fact, I left them in my hotel room during the day and tried my best not to check them at night. I wasn't perfect, but it was nice to unplug from technology for a few days.

My 21-year-old daughter that came with my wife and I on this trip remarked how her generation found it difficult to unplug. She followed my example and left her phone in the hotel room as well. She noticed how others her age would float along on an inner-tube on the resort hotel's extensive lazy river with iPhone's in waterproof cases unable to refrain from constantly looking at the screen. She was disgusted with her contemporaries. I also noticed that younger children quickly snatched parents' phones the moment they were put down so electronic games could be played. Parents and adults were no better as they constantly ignored family members to stay in contact with their hand-held devices.

I enjoyed my trip to the islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. I especially enjoyed not being connected to the rest of the world. My hope that at least one person reads this and follows our example and disconnects on their next vacation. It may only be for a day or two but you will be richly rewarded.