Holi-Data
I recently went on holiday to Greece, my first holiday abroad in 5 years, delivering me a certain swagger in the low-carbon-holiday-moral high-ground. 5 years is a long time between guaranteed sunshine breaks, I am sure you will agree.
Holidays are a time to relax, sample different foods, cultures, lie on the beach and read a few books (at least it is when you are my age). To ensure that my break went uninterrupted I was made to turn off my emails and associated responsibilities. In the four years plus since Agent was formed, this was a first for me - data-less relaxation. To enable this setting on my particular brand of smart-phone I switched off all data and WiFi.
What would I do without my En-gadget, BBC News, C-Net, Guardian RSS Feeds. No Internet, Sat-Nav or Live weather updates. My geo-tagging of photographs, live food reviews, blogging, Facebook social interactions and tweets all put into suspended animation for a week. No emails! This was going to be tough.
In reality my craving for information lasted as far as page nine of a good book, my desire to tweet my tan didn’t happen. In fact after a few days my 21st century data-twitch of checking the device for messages and stuff every few minutes had all but disappeared. The books I had downloaded were rendered useless due to the screen not working in bright sunshine, after four days the device was left in the hotel room – digitally castrated and inept.
I was back in the real world with a real book and relaxation. Interestingly my device also relaxed - using one charge over 5 days instead of the usual 12 hours. All in all a great holiday for both of us.
So here I am back in the real world - reconnected. Did I miss anything? Well, yes. I missed the Agents, our lovely clients, and the buzz of the office - tangible and real. Did I miss the other stuff? Not really - bit of advice though, next time you go on holiday - give your data a break too.
08/07
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