Five Easy Ways to Take a Digital Detox

Posted by Travel + Leisure

Travelers thrive on being connected to the world. It’s in our nature to want to meet new people, experience different cultures and places—and share the journey. But when you can go just about anywhere these days and still get a signal on your phone, feeding that urge to Instagram everything can actually leave us more deeply disengaged from a destination (and our travel companions) than we realize.   

While evidence against the overuse of technology is mounting—from smartphone addiction to its negative effects on the brain to the dangers of Wi-Fi exposure around children—according to a recent study from HR consulting firm Randstad, 42% of us still feel compelled to check work email on vacation.

“Our need for instantaneous flow of information is detrimental to our mental and physical health,” says endurance/athletic coach Ellen Miller. “The behavior can become quite compulsive and addictive, and lead to a more sedentary lifestyle. Whether cycling or hiking or walking, it is so important to put down technology and reconnect with nature.”

Consider these five getaway tips that make it easy to forget about the Internet so you can be fully in the moment—without having to record it.

Go back to camp

Friends and family might be used to your head-in-the-icloud tendencies at dinner, but with new people it’s almost impossible not to be aware of your own awkward, must-take-a-selfie behavior, especially while exchanging stories around a campfire. Sensing a growing demand for unplugged vacations, outfitters are crafting itineraries tailored to the tech-obsessed generation.

The more wild the setting, the less likely you are to crave technology. On safari, there’s nothing on your phone worth turning away from a dazzle of zebras or a herd of bathing elephants. Preempt the impulse to later Instagram your close encounter with a baboon by booking a stay at an Internet-averse place like Asilia Naboisho Camp, situated in a private 50,000-acre conservancy near the Maasai Mara National Reserve in Kenya.  

And when it’s finally time to log back in at work, the experience of having been freed from the Web, even for a little while, will have a profound and lingering effect. You’ll see.