do you find it hard to switch off from work?
We are all guilty of posting meaningless Facebook statuses, browsing our Twitter feeds every half an hour and sharing our best pouts on Instagram several times a day.
It has become very clear that mobiles are getting in the way of social events with friends and family members. Gone are the days when meeting up with a friend meant they had your full undivided attention, if you look around restaurants and coffee shops nowadays you often see groups of people sitting together in a trance with their eyes fixated on their phones rather than each other.
It doesn’t stop there, now it seems that we are giving ourselves no time to relax and unwind. Many people are taking their phones along with them on holiday to check up on work emails and the on-goings back home rather than having quality family time - correct us if we're wrong, but isn't a holiday the chance to have a break away from the stresses of everyday life?
The rising fascination of taking your work away with you is becoming more common, new research by OnePoll for Thomas Cook suggests that 1 in 3 adults admit to not having a healthy work-life balance.
A total of 2,000 adults were surveyed and 44% said that their yearly holiday is the only time they get to spend any real quality time with their family, away from work pressures. The average working week in the UK is around 37 hours and some people work up to 48 hours a week so it’s no surprise that 30% feel that they spend too many hours a week at work.
That doesn’t stop the 1 in 5 people surveyed who said they often check their phone and emails for work purposes at least once every 2 days whilst on holiday and shockingly, 1 in 10 people admitted to regularly checking their work emails every day that they are away.
Managing Director Thomas Cook UK & Ireland, Reto Wilhelm commented: “Looking at our research it’s clear that the majority of the British public do prefer to switch off on holiday, but there’s a large proportion where that’s simply not an option.”
Hotels with Thomas Cook offer the best of both worlds, with exclusive SunConnect and Sunwing properties, guests are offered free Wi-Fi as well as the choice between digital connectivity and family-friendly activities such as kids clubs, waterparks and sports.
is your child getting the wrong impression?It’s not just adults who have been affected by the constant need for accessibility - it’s starting to rub off onto children too. 1 in 6 parents said their kids are more interested in spending time on their tablet computers and smartphones rather than with them.
The opportunities to truly relax are becoming increasingly reduced, with so many of us allowing our working lives to intrude on our leisure time, it appears we could all be in desperate need of a ‘digital detox’.
A total of 40% of people who took part in the survey said they would be happy to go on holiday and leave all electric devices behind, 27% said they would at least consider it as a means to escape the curse of the ‘crackberry’ whereas 32% said that they would never consider going on a digital detox holiday or it wasn’t an option for them.
Will we ever beat the curse?
By Natasha Akpan - www.femalefirst.co.uk
Tagged in Technology Mobile