Seetha Priyadarshini, a chartered account, still smiles about her latest vacation — a month-long gadget-free holiday in Coimbatore. “It was such a departure from my regular routine,” she says. “In Singapore, I wake up to my iPhone alarm, check WhatsApp messages, my mails, listen to M.S. Subbulakshmi’s songs on YouTube as I get ready and finally check the bus timings online.” Newspapers are read online on the way to work and back. She also checks out dinner ideas online. Just before she hits the sack, Seetha logs on her iPad and connects with her friends on Facebook.
But, December was different. She was invisible online. “I logged off the Net. I used the phone minimally. There was a kind of a freedom in not knowing what was happening around the world. It was a throwback to life as it used to be,” she says.
Seetha is among the growing number of people who have taken a braincation — what Urban Dictionary calls ‘a vacation for your brain to escape stress’. Loosely translated, this means a holiday where nothing interferes with your time —phones, tabs or computers — and you are only connected to a gentler pace of life.
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Purandhar Srinivas, a university student, says he can’t stay away from his laptop. He admits that checking mail and status updates become compulsive. “It’s like an addiction and eats into my real interests. I would like a break, but don’t know if I can stay away from it for long.”
Singapore-based K.S. Venkataraman still cherishes a 2010 vacation he took in New Zealand. “I just had my camera and a phone that I rarely used. I guess it had to do with the general festival mood of Christmas and the pace of life there. It was a stress-free, ‘no e-mail, no FB, period’,” he recalls. He loved that holiday for the lovely landscapes and the sense of being one with Nature. He says he can be off e-mail or phone if he wants to, but confesses that FB can be addictive. “On holidays, it is only sometimes that I go online. Only, if my work demands it.”
But, some admit they can’t live without them. Ebin Mathew, who works in Dubai, says he stays gadget-free only when forced — for instance, when he visits his native place where Internet connectivity is not good. “I am addicted to gadgets. They keep me in touch with family and friends, and I believe they are a great communication tool.” Free wi-fi in many restaurants and cafes has contributed to the trend of people staying online always, he feels. But he says he wouldn’t mind going back to the days when he enjoyed a good read or sipped on hot chocolate without wondering who’s posting what online.
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Braincations are great, says Seetha. “You get to have real-time conversations with people and look at their eyes, instead of the cell phone!” Her December break, she says, was detox of a different kind. “I woke up to the chirping of birds and the cool breeze of my hometown. I wish every holiday was like this.”
SWITCH OFF
* Savour nature more meaningfully. Capture your surroundings in your mind’s eye. Relive those moments in the bliss of solitude
* If you are wired in on holidays, how is it different from being at work?
* Give your loved ones your undivided attention, without the constant distraction of a beeping cell phone or tab