It's time to turn it all off. This vacation season, have the courage to unplug the BlackBerry charger. Power down the iPhone. And stop tweeting.
A recent Washington Post article ("On Family Beach Vacations, Text-Loving Teens Stay Plugged In") got me thinking about connectivity and the summer break.
IT TURNS out that adolescents and adults alike are wondering whether to unplug that favorite device or keep up that 24/7 relationship with everyone and everything. Go cold turkey and leave the iPhone off for the duration of the vacation? Or keep up the normal routine - which in my case requires reading hundreds of e-mails per day?
"With the miles between home and away so easily traversed by limitless texting and by laptops that connect to Facebook and Skype, the family getaway to the beach or the lake has become just another frontier transformed by the digital age," the Post piece said.
"At the Outer Banks of North Carolina, the school-aged play Xbox Live in rental houses with friends hundreds of miles away. From Delaware beach towns, they post Facebook photos and messages. At state parks, iPods and Nintendo DS consoles are packed into minivans along with marshmallows and fishing rods. Everywhere are parents who could not make the trip without a computer or BlackBerry."
I guess I shouldn't be surprised. The truth is, our houses have become a blinking-light extravaganza. Home offices with computers, modems and speakers.
Family rooms stocked with televisions, cable boxes, DVD players, VCRs, Xboxes and controllers.
Cell phones lie on the table, their chargers anchored to a nearby socket. Laptops, iPods and digital cameras litter the rest of the house.
Let's face it: Kids have night-lights. And parents have Nokias.
Most of the toys are portable. Meaning, they're in our pockets or by our side whether we're in the boardroom or on the beach.
