The Buenos Aires Twitter Detox

Beautifully written, Valerie! I’ll do a Twitter-free vacation weekend this summer, for sure.

I do like what you are saying and I applaud your going net-dark on vacation. A certain irony that I learned of this post on Twitter (via @alexknowshtml) but that is appropriate. I also love Twitter and have used it sinc 2007, but we are missing something important by not being where and with whom we are.

What a great experience it is to “black out” of technology for a while! I did it last summer when I backpacked through Scandinavia. It was most liberating and I found solace in the quiet moments (after the first 48 hours of iPhone withdrawals)! When i arrived home, i didn’t even pick up my phone for a few hours b/c I kind of forgot I had it! But, much like you, I’m not sure I’ll do this on my next long trip to OZ/NZ…Twitter can sure be helpful when backpacking!

Nice piece, nice site, Valerie. I wonder how twitter would fit into our international reproting program this summer. Was the O’Donohue poem created for twitter?

How was the Malbec?

Thanks for the thoughtful comments! I really think it’s important to note what extreme value Twitter can bring to travel, and the gift of connectivity it offers in far flung places. I mean - how fun to tweet out a question about a tiny, random town and in minutes have restaurant reviews at your fingertips?! But I think what this trip really reminded me of what the great need for balance in our travels/lives. It is frightfully easy to become all-consumed with Twitter, et al - and really lose a moment.

I totally relate to the Twitter withdrawal, too—I would literally twitch when I couldn’t reach for my iPhone!

And Andy - I think you’d be really remiss not to add a social media element to the program - it’s omnipresent in media right now! The poem is an oldie, but goody - I love O’Donohue - was written well before Twitter. And yes ... that Malbec was DARN good!!

Good writing Valerie!
I recognize the urge, the need to Twitter. Oh, the social media are so addictive!

Nice piece Valerie. I’ll definitely pass along on, well, Twitter. While I don’t take issue with people who want to post while away, it does change the experience. For better or worse? That depends on the person. But on a recent trip, I was forced offline by a downed WiFi system and it turned out to be a really good thing. It made me anxious for about a day but then I gave myself over to it. It didn’t take long to leave the Twitter post thinking behind—and that made me very happy. The only downside: since I didn’t tell people on Facebook and Twitter that I was going away, I returned home to emails and voicemails expressing serious worry that something bad had happened to me.

Going off the grid is a good thing, but I wouldn’t want to return completely to those days when traveling dark was not a matter of choice!

I agree, Lanora and Jenna. Posting while away can certainly change an experience, but I certainly don’t believe it to be a bad thing. Still there’s a powerful freedom in going off the grid. And it’s funny - I really did feel that anxiousness at first, too - I always marvel at how once upon a time, I traveled non-stop with no one knowing exactly where I was at any moment, without the internet, and without a cell - it’s seems so wildly far away from where I stand today - where leaving my cell phone in a hotel room can set off a stream of odd feelings.

Funny isn’t it that nobody ever feels a need to attempt a “conversation-free” vacation or “contemplation-free” travels? And that nobody talks about random face-to-face interactions with heads on shoulders as being some kind of addiction to get over? And I’ve never heard someone say, “Gosh, I need to start speaking in shorter sentences!”

On my last two international trips I’ve witnessed four people sitting around a table in a restaurant, all looking under the table at their tiny screen and moving their thumbs around. The only time they talked was when the food came and they needed both hands free. Good thing they flew all that way…

valerie I’ve always wanted to see Buenos Aires. No jive it’s on my list and the ESO Observatory in Chile.

Great post. Yet, how ironic that I’m reading this while in Cozumel, Mexico. I’ll admit that my heart gave a little flutter when I learned the hotel didn’t have wifi in the rooms. Thanks to BAM I was able to get on-line.

Sign me a hopeless Twitter addict. Is there a hash tag for that?

Hmm..maybe I need to succumb to Twitter. Ive managed to resist thus far but it seems like Im missing out!