Are we too connected when we travel

[harvyk]

An interesting article in the huffpost asking are we too connected when we travel

Too Connected When You Travel? | William D. Chalmers

One awful trend I have watched evolve is the rise of a virtual wall of technology. And the unintended consequences of this techno barrier separates not only travelers from each other, but travelers from the main reasons why we travel in the first place -- to immerse ourselves in other cultures and to trust strangers in strange lands.

For me I can see two sides of the coin. Being "off the grid" so to speak can in itself be relaxing, that said to be able to connect with others during a trip, you do need to be of a certain type of person (eg, Mrs Harvyk would chose to sit in a corner bored by herself rather than approach a stranger, all the friends we've made during our travels has been me going up to people, often against her protests), and the person you meet would also need to be receptive.

Of course technology these days has one other lovely side effect when you do meet someone, you can keep in contact with them easily well after the trip has ended. There is nothing quite like finding a persons facebook profile whilst standing around at the pool...

 

[Happy Trails]

I'll get back to you in a minute, I'm just taking a call at the moment.

 

[UP4014]

Way to connected for me, but I still don't own a navigation device other than a fold out map.

Matt

 

[bass_ke]

Absolutely.

Hostel common rooms use to roar with war stories, tips and laughter over a beer. Now it's a battle to the death for the last PowerPoint.

 

[ckck]

It depends on what I am doing. When travelling for business I need to be connected. When travelling for leisure I change my voicemail message so people know from which date they can contact me again.

People can always email me and when working (and travelling) all email is answered promptly. When on holidays I only check my personal email and that is to keep in contact with family/friends. I often travel alone so family always have an itinerary and they get a phone call when I have arrived etc.

So for me it is very different if I am travelling for work or leisure.

 

[JohnK]

Way too connected. Way too reliant on technology.

There are people who do not know how to get anywhere without a GPS. That is sad.

I had a Samsung Galaxy S smartphone for ~2 years and I managed to keep it app free all that time. I now have a Samsung Galaxy S3 and my initial thought remains the same. No apps.

P.S. I answered I even leave my phone at home as there wasn't an appropriate option. The previous option made it sounds like taking gadgets with you during travel which I dont do other than a phone.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I read somewhere else that TG is introducing wi-fi on A380s and some a330s... and this was being well received with lots of 'thumbs-ups' in the comments section.

but i was thinking... what am i supposed to do with wi-fi connectivity on the plane? I check my email in the lounge before departure, and I have access again on landing. what do i need to do mid-flight? (am i missing something?)

 

[DrA]

As my travels usually take me to quite remote locations, having a communication mechanism is critical. I don't spend all my time online or on the phone by any means, but for safety reasons (both in terms of personal safety from doing adventure sports and because not every country I visit is especially safe in general), being able to make regular contact with either friends or family to let them know I'm safe and sound is important. I mean when I go to some countries for work, we have a policy that I am required to make contact with our corporate risk management people every 24 hours, or otherwise it will trigger an alert and they start trying to track me down. So at times I'll just travel with my mobile phone and an iPad/laptop, other times I'll have my GPS and a sat phone as well.

So I think it really depends.

 

[RooFlyer]

I think the important thing is not to stress about stressing over tech.

You might want to contact family. They might want to contact you. Sure, use hotel phones if you like (or can). Otherwise just take the gear and use it when you like.

I took a cruise in Russia last year and we were out of touch for a couple of days (or as good as). No problem.

 

[Homer]

I think it depends a lot on your role. I know many employees who totally switch off because they can. But senior managers and business owners rarely have that luxury.

 

[mushez]

I travel purely for business, and if I am not contactable or in contact, it hits the fan.

I would say technology has allowed me to travel more, and for longer periods of time.

I would have to say I prefer technology over none and I think it is down to people choosing to use it or not.

I recall as a young lad, driving around the Wellington (NZ) Streets in the 80's trying to fine a hotel for the night after missing the last sailing over the cook straight and having to hunker down in the CF Bedford Van about 2am as we couldn't fine one. Today with technology, we would have been searching and calling hours before we hit the city and traveled straight to the hotel.

I get the point of the article, just it is not the technology that is the issue, ..... It is the people and how they choose to become slaves to it and how that in turn, be it traveling or not, anti sociable than our pairs two decades ago.

 

[Alanslegal]

I am a leisure traveller and being connected definitely enhances my trips. For example, I might see a restaurant that looks good but as you know, never judge a book by its cover. So I jump online to find reviews on that restaurant and it turns out to be a tourist trap. I can then find an alternate restaurant nearby which serves much better food etc. I can also update family&friends my travels with photos on Facebook/email etc.

 

[Sdtravel]

It takes me a bit to switch off on holidays
always checking my work emails some times just to make sure things are running smoothly or know what to expect when I get back.

I do bring a bit of tech though. I remember when I went to HNL my friend tried to mock me saying "you bought 3 pieces of technology!!" (phone, laptop and iPad). Although I didn't see him mocking me after a certain someone asked to check their email.
but it was handy, phone doubles for music at the gym, also able to quickly look things up when I can find free wifi and is a back up camera.
laptop is good for checking email, looking up travel stuff and proressively downloading and uploading to the cloud the holiday picks. iPad was just there for quick Internet access and I was hoping to be on a refurbished 767 with iPad connectivity for entertainment but wasnt.

But on any trip I think a laptop and smartphone can't go astray. It's handy for return flight checking, last minute travel planning ect.

 

[drewbles]

I'm clearly biased due to my job and the industry I work in (I'm an IT guy, and work in the telecoms world), but I don't think we are.

It's peoples use of connected technology that may be the issue, not the connectivity itself. A smart phone/tablet/netbook/laptop in the hands of a traveller can save your life, quite literally.

It allows us to have a 'silent' but constant link back to loved ones, anywhere in the world, in the case of an emergency. It allows us to find our way around our destinations and research future locations.

The second one is the biggest for me. I *hate* looking like a tourist when travelling. Having a smart phone to tap away at for map directions, restaurant recommendations, bar locations etc, lets me blend in far more than reading a tourist guide/map.

And of course, it keeps us entertained on flights. The myriad of games, apps and TV/Movie content available ensures that we never have to rely on IFE (whilst it's gotten better over the last 10 years, there's still a lot of garbage that I personally don't like to watch/listen to).

And, for people like me (ie, in IT who are on call 24x7, even on holidays but only in the event of a dire emergency), it enables me to travel the globe knowing that if anything does go wrong, I can fix it. I work for a company where I *am* the networks guy, meaning if things break, no one else can fix it. Fortunately i'm good at my job (ie, things don't break, and if they do, i've designed things well enough that there's failover so customers don't notice), and my employer understands the words 'dire emergencies only'.

tldr; No, we're not, it's how people use it and I don't feel that's isolated to travel, there are far too many zombies walking around with their eyes glued to their screens at home.

 

[Sdtravel]

I work on our IT helpdesk too so I like to keep tabs on what's going on, sometimes my team need a little help.
part of the fun is seeing the tickets that get assigned to me directly by sales thinking they can get things one faster and bypass our first level guys because they think it's URGENT.
i got to write when I to back " Dear xx, please be advised that I have been on leave for the last 3 weeks. As you assigned the issue directly to me your URGENT issue was looked at by NO ONE. Please do not assign issues yourself and leave it to the front line team who would have ensured an available resource was allocated". Some people learnt pretty quickly after that, but it's not like I had been telling them this for years.

 

[legroom]

It's about how you use technology, when you use it rather than the availability itself.

Too many times we have seen people sitting in cafe, restaurants with lovely settings & foods only to see them each tapping away at their little screens with nil or minimal interpersonal contact.

That is a prime example of tech connect but personal disconnect.

Otherwise, as already commented, after such lovely meals / museum saunters etc... a smart phone with/without WiFi could help you plan the next phase: when is the next ferry, where is the next destination street, how many metro stops before I need to get off .....

It's about information and as such 'garbage in [chat rooms etc...], garbage out'.

And there are many who is required to be contactable by their job / family etc... Even so, tech helps and does not hinder as long as you don't actively / continuously contact home base from Musee D'Orsay to enquire how the monthly sales is going .....

Smartphone could double as notebook with little hints written down before / during the trips, reading library / music stores on plane- bus trips (kind of hard to remain socially engaged for many hours - even if you were sitting next to Miranda Kerr).

What do you do when +1 is inside the change room with a sackful of clothes to try ?

A smartphone would be helpful, not least allowing you to remain abreast of USDM stories .....