by Rachel Quigley
Last updated at 8:10 AM on 6th July 2011
There is a new detox in town and withdrawal symptoms include a feeling of nakedness, itchy fingers, secretive behaviour and anxiety when close to anything digital.
The digital detox is the latest trend for people looking to get away from it all and hotels are even offering discounts as incentives.
If you promise to leave all your digital devices behind, or check them in at front desk for the duration of your stay, then you can enjoy extra amenities, freebies or discounts of up to 20 per cent.
Solitude: Teton Lodge and Spa in Wyoming is one of the many places across America to offer a digital detox package
Solitude Unplugged: Teton Lodge offers a package which invites guests to part with and relinquish all digital items. Hikes and spa treatments are offered in return
Sales executive Amanda Levy told the Wall Street Journal that she signed up for the detox when booking a recent yoga retreat in return for a 15 per cent discount.
The 29-year-old said she sometimes ‘feels naked’ without her smartphone and said: ‘I am constantly on my iPhone and checking my email. but it was nice to be able to shut it off. It gave me an excuse to feel OK about not checking in.’
Starting this month, guests at the Renaissance Pittsburgh Hotel can book ‘Zen and the Art of Detox’ on some summer weekends.
The Hotel Monaco in Chicago offers anyone who reserves its ‘tranquillity suite’ the option toadd a ‘Technology Break’.
Lake Placid Lodge: Invites you to ‘tune out the humming and buzzing of electronic devices and enjoy the serenity of the Adirondacks with our Check-In and Check-Out Package’
Solitude: the tranquillity suite at Hotel Monaco Chicago has a meditation station
Others with similar packages include the Quincy in Washington, D.C., the Teton Mountain Lodge and Spa in Teton Village, Wyoming, the Lake Placid Lodge in Lake Placid and via Yoga,a Seattle company that specialises in luxury yoga and surfing retreats in Mexico and Costa Rica.
DIGITAL HABITS WHILE ON VACATION
A survey of top online activities while on vacation found that• 72% read personal email• 49% utilized Internet sites to find trip-related information• 41% did online banking• 27% checked/updated their social-media profiles• 25% stayed abreast of the news• 17% checked work emailSource: Echo research for American Express, 2011
The format is generally the same in each hotel, with staff offering guests who take the ‘unplugged option’ alternatives like board games and books. Some even unplug the TV and take out telephones.
Outdoor activities and spa treatments are often also offered to occupy guests.
A recent survey of 2,000 people by American Express found that 79 per cent of travellers remain connected almost all or at least some of the time on their holiday.
33 per cent admitted to hiding their digital habits from their vacation partners.
Psychiatrist and author Edward Hallowell told the Wall Street Journal that technology is the new cigarette.
He said: ‘Technology has freed us up in many ways. but there are unintended consequences. Users become addicted without knowing it. It’s the new cigarette.’
John T. Peters told the Journal about going cold turkey during a recent trip to the Bahamas with his family.
He said he was inspired to cut back after his daughter asked him where his iPhone was when seeing him without it.
He said: ‘It really struck a nerve. I realized maybe I was too connected if a four-year-old associates a phone with Daddy.
‘Had it not been for my children, I would have fallen off the wagon in a very short amount of time.’
Technology: Participants of the digital detox said they felt anxious and cut off from the world and even lied to their friends and family about whether they had checked their emails
Relaxation: the patio suite at the Renaissance Pittsburgh Hotel features a sun deck and also offers a digital detox package to allow guests to get away from it all
But he admitted that he would ‘glance at my business device at night, just to see if there were any major emergencies.
‘I think there were a couple ofdays when I checked it in the morning, maybe once or twice. but I didn’t respond.’
He said that now he tries to keep his digital devices at charging stations rather than in his pockets or hand the whole time since his ‘technology break’.
Dean Fisher, 30, an interior designer and event coordinator in Chicago, recently booked a ‘Technology Break’ at the Hotel Monaco with her boyfriend, Michael Renaud, 33.
After a digital-free night in the hotel’s Tranquillity Suite, Ms Fisher said she woke up feeling disoriented.
She said: ‘Without my iPhone, I didn’t know what time it was. I started to worry that my clients were trying to get in touch with me. I felt really anxious.’