WOULD EAT, PRAY, LOVE author Elizabeth Gilbert have fallen so deeply in love with Neapolitan pizza if she'd been taking photos of her pie to post on Instagram? What if Steinbeck had traveled with Charley and Waze? These days, iPhones, laptops, and tablets-not to mention fitness trackers and smart watches are ubiquitous, making it feel all but impossible to truly disconnect.
"There used to be a distinction between home and away," says Trine Syvertsen, whose 2020 book Digital Detox: The Politics of Disconnecting, examines the dissolution of that boundary. These days, Syvertsen adds, "people do all sorts of things to self restrict their media use," including turning off notifications or switching on airplane mode while on the ground. Proof of the interest in going phone-free can be found on Reddit, where forums like r/nosurf and r/Phones Are Bad host discussions on how to more effectively log off while on vacation.
This story is from the March 2024 edition of Travel+Leisure US.
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This story is from the March 2024 edition of Travel+Leisure US.
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