Vacations are relaxing and fun. Work is not. Why, then, do so many people end up getting pulled into work messages and tasks during what’s supposed to be time off?
In an article for The Conversation, academics Dan Caprar and Ben Walker suggest that part of why this happens is that we can strongly identify with work—we’re unwilling to fully let go of roles that help define us. Beyond that, though, there are environmental cues that can instantly prompt our brains to switch from relaxation to work mode. The sight of an email notification or your laptop can remind you that work is still there, peeking over your relaxation.
There’s an obvious solution: Leave your phone and laptop at home. The problem: Technology is actually pretty useful during a vacation. Looking up good places to eat, booking fun activities, and arranging to meet friends who live in the city you’re visiting are all easier with phones and computers. What, then, is a vacationer to do?
[Related: Why you hate going back to work after vacation]
If you have separate work and personal devices the answer is clear: Just take your personal one. If that’s not you, though, it’s time to switch your devices over to “vacation mode.” This basically means tweaking your devices so that work isn’t as present on them. How this looks is going to vary from person to person, but here are a few things you can try.
Clean up your homescreen and taskbar
How often do you open your phone or computer, notice the icon for work apps, and then reflexively open it? Probably more often than you’d like. My advice: Delete those shortcuts.
On Windows, this means right-clicking the offending icons on the taskbar and clicking Unpin from taskbar. Feel free to delete any desktop shortcuts to work apps while you’re at it—just drag them to the recycling bin.
On macOS, you can get work apps out of your dock by right-clicking the icon, mousing over to Options then…
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