Vacations are a great time to recharge and connect with your loved ones, but connecting can be tough if

we are plugged into the electronic devices day and night. Rather than sharing conversations and
enjoying the people, we’re with we are connected to the world of social media, apps, email, and cloud
services and miss the moment. While on vacation, many people jump on emails, written work, calls, and
even meetings when they’re supposed to be soaking up the sun on holiday. But it’s essential to limit the
time we spend wired, in the interest of having more face time with the people we love.

One of the best things you do for yourself is to go on a digital detox when you are on vacation to
disconnect from everything that distracts you and keep your mind going. By having a digital detox, you
will be able to better appreciate the moment, place and people you are hanging with.

Here are some strategies for creating new holiday rituals incorporating minimal usage of tech for those
plagued by pings and rings during vacations.

1. Work Ahead:

If you want to make your vacation a truly relaxing and enjoyable experience, do your best to get ahead
on all projects. Working an extra hour or two each night the week before your vacation will avoid the
dreaded backlog that typically awaits your return. Make sure to have contingency plans and convey
them to your co-workers to have them cover for you in your absence. Use services like Evernote,
Dropbox, and Google Drive to store essential information in well-outlined folders to help your
teammates to access it whenever required.

2. Write a proper “Out-of-Office” message

Set up an auto response to the incoming emails starting the day before you leave and ending a day after
you return. Let the auto-response message inform your correspondents about your non-availability and
as a courtesy, provide them with alternate contact information in your absence. A proper Away Message
may reduce the chance of any annoying messages, meeting requests, or even calls while you’re on
vacation.

3. Designate one of your colleagues to be your point of contact

Alert your team in advance of the days you have scheduled off and who’s filling in for you. Make sure
they are up-to-date on the status of all your current projects. If you can’t go cold turkey on work, make
sure you are not getting emails or texts from numerous colleagues but designate one colleague to be
your point of contact. That too let the emergency contact number be your hotel’s landline so people will
be less likely to contact you about something trivial.

4. Set a goal:

While it might be hard to turn off completely for your full vacation, give yourself some small goals and
stick to it. For instance, check your email and social media accounts only in the morning and evening for
not more than 20 minutes, then leave your phone in your hotel room while you’re at the beach for the
day. Talk with your travelling companions about this schedule, so they know when you’re going to be in
work mode. Your goal may be to post something on social media only when you have downtime.

5. Delete your favourite apps.

Sounds crazy, doesn’t it. But it’s a good trick to stop the endless scrolling. Most of the time, we navigate
through our social media apps reflexively, as though our fingers and icons are magnets. Identify your
addicting apps such as Instagram, twitter, facebook, games, etc --anything that you use to avoid the
voids in life. Uninstall all those apps which makes you to mindlessly open up when you are bored or
waiting in a line for a mindless entertainment! You won’t be tempted to open them if you don’t have
them. If your phone won’t let you delete them, hide them in a folder off your home screen. You can
always check these platforms through your phone’s internet browser if you must, and you can reinstall
them at any time after your vacation.

6. Involving your Co-traveler

On your vacation, you can encourage your loved ones to join you in breaking free from the “cells” of our
“cell” phones and gadgets. While on a dinner or any other place you can suggest that everyone places
their phones in one stack, where they’ll stay for the entirety of the meal or activity. Bet your travel
partners that the first one to reach for his or her phone has to buy a round of drinks or pay for a meal.

As a group, you may decide to lock the gadgets for some time and agree that whoever cheats have to
fulfil annoying consequences. For achieving your digital detox milestone, you can reward yourself by
indulging in a spa day, treat yourself to a fancy dinner, an extra glass of wine, or whatever it is that you
can look forward to.

7. Unplug, and plug into fun with humans

So you are on a digital fast, you don’t have the iPad, Kindle, laptop or iPhone to keep you hooked, what
you are going to use to entertain yourself. Think of the things people use to keep occupied even before
all these technologies existed – our old school games. Play a game of your favourite sport or old school
games such as Apples to Apples, board game, Uno, or regular card games together with your loved ones
which will help you develop strong bond and teamwork. Moreover, all these games will fit easily in a
suitcase.

8. Invest in a proper map

We are dependent on our phones for a lot of things – including finding our way around a city. Getting a
paper map and guidebook always adds an element of adventure, and it’s a great way of eliminating your
phone from one aspect of your life, and it helps you limit your social media usage. It also encourages
teamwork, problem-solving and a passive form of journeying, where you engage actively with your loved
ones and surroundings. Before you head out, make your own itinerary to avoid spending a good chunk
of your vacation staring at the moving blue dot on your Google Maps app.

9. Living the moment with Fewer photo snaps on the camera

Earlier People used to take 32 pictures on vacation, but now they are clicking 150 in a day. We want to
capture all the precious moments in photos, from eating an incredible meal to watching the sunset and
seeing historical sites. The whole point of a vacation is to savour every last minute and experience.
Spending so much time trying to grab the best photos makes you miss the moment and leave you with a
false memory. Resist the habit of capturing every little moment for Instagram, even if you’re using an
analogue camera. Instead of your smartphone, track down your old camera or buy a disposable camera
to capture a few memories from your trip. The fewer photos you take, the more you’ll remember those
amazing moments you had on your trip.

10. Switch off Notifications

Every “ding” takes you out of the moment and stresses out your brain to check your notifications. If
there’s nothing new and exciting calling to you, you will be far less tempted to check in. Disable all the
social networks and also work-related notifications except for the ones you want to receive on your
smartphone for the length of your vacation. Turn off the badges too- the little red circles that pop up on
apps’ icons.

11. Limit your data plan:

Today in social media era, unlimited data plans have become essential for posting photos on Instagram,
using navigation tools with GPS and staying in touch with friends and family at home, etc. As they make
us connect to the internet all times throughout the day, the primary purpose of vacation - unplugging
and unwinding are significantly hit. While travelling abroad, it’s better not to buy an international plan.
Knowing the excessive charges, you will be forced to be more selective on when and how you are using
the data on our device. You may also turn off cellular data so that you can use the internet only when
connected to Wi-Fi. Or put it on aeroplane mode so that your internet access is cut off completely.