September 17, 2017
What’s the fastest way to ruin a vacation?
Bad weather and back-to-work anxiety are both culprits, but a new survey from Expedia points to social media as a sure-fire way to dampen the spirit during a vacation or holiday, with people clocking in about nine hours of social media time during a week-long vacation.
Though it’s tempting to continually post updates to different social media platforms documenting your trip, dreaming of the envy they may evoke in all your friends stuck not on vacation, 44 percent of the 2,000 people surveyed said that using social media during vacation made their experience less than ideal.
The internal obligation to post and monitor reactions becomes a surefire way to distract from your coveted vacation and get lost in your phone or another device, and then there’s all the time spent making sure your selfie looks perfectly perfect (even if that requires 15+ takes). In fact, 10 percent of those surveyed admitted to taking tons of the same photo just to make sure they got the best one for social media.
“Although people have said that social media can ruin their holiday experiences, it seems it is still a significant aspect of their trip,” Alex Platts, a commercial director at Expedia, said in a statement.
To combat this conundrum, Expedia is attempting a solution called Stay Off Social, a tool that will post to your social media accounts on your behalf during vacation. The downside is your feed will then be clogged with stock photos and do little to document your true experience while on vacation.
No matter how many or little vacation days you may have left, you could also consider staying off social media altogether and posting your photos upon your return. All the likes will be a good way to sweeten your return to the real world.
