Why I Unplug During Family Vacations
As I write this, I am some tens of thousands of feet in the air, on the way to Guadeloupe for My Cruising Family’s Spring Break 2018 cruise. I will schedule this to automatically post on the My Cruising Family blog, and we will be enjoying a fun-filled, yet relaxing, family vacation.
On prior vacations, I did not even take my laptop because of my deep-rooted, genuine, desire to unplug, breathe in the fresh Caribbean air, and have not a care in the world, except to admire God’s handiwork and connect even more as a family.
On a nearly daily basis, my seven-year-old son and I endure the hustle and bustle of New York City, in which the air is not that clean ocean air that we will enjoy during this upcoming vacation. We commute to and from school and work via public transportation in one of the busiest cities in the world. Add to that, of course, there are the devices our entire family tends to use regularly, such as cell phones, tablets, laptops, and the television. Can you say stimulated? How about over-stimulated?
Furthermore, I carry a personal cell phone, but also, in different professional positions over the past 10 years, I have also been provided with a mobile phone for work. My present position, quite honestly, does not require me to be tied to the phone 24 hours a day/7 days a week, but I have held a position in which the requirement felt pretty close to that.
Seriously though, when did it become okay for an employer to require anyone – other than a medical doctor – to be on-call at all times? Some people I’ve spoken to feel as though they cannot even take a vacation because of their demanding work. For me, my demanding work is, in part, why I feel the need to take vacations.
Even if the plugging in to various devices and the internet is voluntary, and is for personal, social media, and/or entertainment purposes, I honestly think we all need a week or two away from that sort of connection from time to time. I know that some people use these tools to capture their experiences, and that’s cool. Our primary mode of capturing vacation memories, thus far, has been being in the moment and taking lots of photographs.
I am a photo-lover. Given that the purpose of My Cruising Family is to inspire families to cruise together more, I have considered videotaping more moments to share with our online community. I won’t lie… the thought of that makes me cringe a bit because I am so territorial about my away time with my family. However, I do hope that we will inspire much more family travel, particularly cruises, and thereby, inspire others to unplug and spend time with their own families. For that, videotaping is worth it. Nevertheless, for the most part, we stay unplugged and unbothered on our cruises. When we are on vacation, we are TRULY ON VACATION!
What say you? Do you unplug during vacation? Why or why not?
