Travel company calls for holiday BlackBerry ban

gallery

Many surveys have shown that we are increasingly becoming a nation of workaholics who have become addicted to gadgets that help us stay in touch with the world of work 24/7, but this trend has led a travel company to call for the BlackBerry and devices of that ilk to be banned from the beach so that Brits can reclaim their free time.

A staggering 20 million Britons feel the need to mix work and play and take work-related activities away with them while they're holidaying, according to a survey conducted by alpharooms.com.

Two-thirds of those surveyed admitted that their holiday time has been interrupted by work on occasions, while a worrying 80 per cent suggested that work issues cause them worry while they're away.

The research also discovered that a third of people take their laptops of BlackBerry devices away with them on holiday, while three-quarters and 60 per cent have made or received a work-related call or email respectively while abroad, pointing to a fear of being disconnected from office proceedings.

As a result, AlphaRooms.com is calling for such devices to be banned from holiday hotpots like the beach and asking people to get back to basics and reinstate holidays back to their rightful status as a means of escaping from the pressures of the daily grind.

"Unfortunately the downside of the communication age in which we live is that we are rarely ever truly out of contact Even when on holiday it's all too easy to make a work telephone call, send an email or even take our Blackberry or laptop to the beach," said Gareth Hockey, alpharooms.com's online marketing manager.

"Holidays should be a time of total rest and relaxation, when work and the stress of day to day life is completely left behind. For that reason alpharooms.com is calling for the British public to ban their Blackberries from the beach, try to put work out of their mind and use their holiday for fun, relaxation and an opportunity to recharge the batteries."

Alpharooms.com's campaign has received the support of the Stress Management Society, which believes that holidays are an essential ingredient in the mix needed to successfully combat stress.

"The purpose of a holiday is to remove yourself from the work environment which is often the cause of stress and it defeats the purpose if you take that work and that stress with you," said Neil Shah, the society's director.

Email to a friend

Print this page