June 21, 2007
Today is the first day of summer. And that brings us to the inevitable question: Are you going to check e-mail when you’re on vacation?
This week I’ll make an argument for and against, plus offer some tips for whichever path you choose.
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Many people loathe returning from a nice, relaxing vacation only to be inundated with a million e-mails. It’s a shock to the system. Slogging through all those messages on your first day back is enough to make you wish you’d kept up on e-mail while away.
Along with all the junk e-mail with subject lines such as “You are man with great future, for sureSoft Viagra,” it’s also possible that a time-sensitive business opportunity may have been offered to you while you were away. This is a particularly worrisome possibility for small-business owners and reason enough to stay connected.
If you decide to check e-mail on vacation, I suggest the following:
Read e-mail only once a day. Ideally, check your messages in the morning. Get it over with so you can get back to your vacation. Whatever you do, don’t check e-mail late at night. Inevitably, someone will pose a question or present a business problem that requires a thoughtful response–and that’s not the kind of thing you want to read right before bedtime.
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Leave the smart phone behind. CrackBerry addicts and users of e-mail-enabled devices will be especially tempted to check messages during any lull in activity, such as waiting in line for a ride at Disney World. To resist that temptation, leave your gadget in the hotel when you go out. If you need a phone, ask to use your traveling partner’s. If you both need your phones–well, are you sure you’re really enjoying this vacation?
Check e-mail at an Internet cafe. By checking e-mail in a neighborhood cafe, you can absorb some local color and possibly even get to know some locals. And you’re limiting your e-mail habit to the daily coffee-shop visit, preventing you from, say, checking e-mail on the beach. Granted, cafes with computer terminals aren’t as plentiful as they once were, given how many people carry laptops now. Still, it’s worth a shot. Check our Hotspot Finder for Internet cafes near your vacation destination.
For more tips, visit our Communications Infocenter.
Everyone deserves at least one week off a year from all responsibilities, or at least from as many as possible. But how can you accomplish this if you’re continuing to check e-mail? The truth is, you can’t. Each message you read, asking your opinion on this or your help on that, requires you to mentally break away from your vacation and focus on something back home. The more messages you read while on vacation, the less you’re able to “get away from it all” and the less refreshed and recharged you’ll be upon return.
I realize that some of you enjoy those little e-mail breaks from your vacation. Maybe you can’t fully relax when you’re out of the loop. Fair enough–but your inability or lack of desire to disconnect will likely create conflict with your traveling partners. Your companions, most likely, want you to be with them in spirit as well as in body.
So how can you disconnect for a week without losing out on potential opportunities? One option is to use an automated e-mail vacation reply, informing those who’ve written you that you’re without e-mail access and will reply to messages beginning on a specified date. The potential downside, and it’s a big one, is that any automated response to a spammer will validate your e-mail address–which could get you on even more mailing lists
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