Comments on: Social Media vs. Electronic Leash

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 14:57:47 +0000

I should note that I wrote that comment from an airport. Just checking for emergency e-mails while waiting for a flight.

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 14:55:34 +0000

I read this after seeing the exact picture you described today at a coffee shop in Cusco: four 20-something travelers sitting in a corner giving their thumbs a workout, probably twittering about the amazing things they had seen—when they weren’t holed up in a hotspot twittering their time away.

By: Ron Mader

Ron Mader — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 01:50:15 +0000

Good to see you on Twitter!

By: Gabrial B

Gabrial B — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 00:28:40 +0000

Like Mike, I guess I have found a happy medium compromise. I carry a cheap netbook for checking e-mail now and then when there’s a wi-fi connection, but mostly I use it to keep all my photos and videos I shoot along the way. I have a tiny hard drive I back them up onto too, so if the cheapo laptop gets stolen, no big deal. Otherwise I agree that the tech can get in the way of travel. Some of these people I see spending two hours at a time on facebook in an internet cafe might as well just be home. Apart from your mother, most people don’t care nearly as much as you think about what you are doing every day!

By: Marie Javins

Marie Javins — Sun, 31 May 2009 15:43:54 +0000

I pretty much agree with Tim.

But I will add one thing: if you’re going to go wired, sitting in Internet cafes CAN give you a local taste you don’t get sitting on wi-fi in your hotel room.

By: Mike

Mike — Fri, 29 May 2009 23:18:38 +0000

Two thumbs up.

But to add something – We bought a netbook (HP Mini) and for the first time ever took an electronic gadget on the road with us to France this year. It was actually great because up until now we’ve had to sit in internet cafes to check email/blog/upload pictures during daylight hours.

Specifically I remember being in Rio and feeling the need to share an intense experience we had on a favela tour with my friends & family… in the meantime my traveling companions were on the beach having acai shakes…

So with the netbook we were able to actually enjoy the days and save the email/blogging/uploading for the nights just before we went to bed.

That being said, if I ever take a phone on a trip I might as well hang up my lucky travel shoes and call it quits.

My bigger problem with Twitter is that small business owners have started to develop an identity around constant communication… which means that their brand depends on this kind of connectedness. They’re just setting themselves up to get burned out.

What an annoying fad.