Sorry about the title (Shore to ship communication) of this post. It’s the first thing that popped to mind when I was editing this photo. A guy on the beach with a cell phone to his ear while walking and a freighter in the upper left corner beyond the couple paddle boarding on the Atlantic. Yeah that’s hard to see but the ship is there.
Step away from the phone Sir.
Photo by Mike Hartley
But my next thought was my interaction with my phone this vacation. Lets see, I brought it and the charger to the beach. I connected it to a socket. I left it plugged in all week till we left. I didn’t make a call. I sent maybe a text message or two. I read maybe 3-4 work emails out of the 1000+ I got while off. It was frigg’en GREAT. I didn’t worry that I didn’t have it when I went out to dinner or lunch. I didn’t take it on bike rides or walks.
Oh yeah, I looked at it to see what time it was once or twice, I’ll chalk that up to unconscious reflex and not wearing a watch. Talk about disconnecting though. Yes I had my computers. Yes I sent a few personal emails, mostly to our kids of meals we were eating. Yes I posted while on vacation (a labor of love) and skimmed some reading material. But the phone was the major change. Its like those devices are connected to us physically all the time now and my brain said enough is enough.
Maybe its the way I look at things. But if I’m on the beach the phone isn’t coming with me. Now maybe this gentleman in the photo can be at the beach because he works there and is mixing his business with his pleasure. Not an entirely bad idea I guess but I need separation in most things and this (working/vacation) is one of them.
And yes I’ll freely admit many past vacations I brought work along with me in a big way. You do what you have to do at times. But now its new rules and vacation is vacation. And it showed me that I can leave that phone alone and still be very happy.
Sense I’ve been back, I’ve somehow been leaving it around the house other than where I’m at. I’ve gone outside without it. I even got in the car yesterday and went out for an errand without it. You know it feels good.
