IT and Social Media
Cathay Pacific Airways launches a global campaign encouraging travellers to go off line for one day when they travel in order to experience more genuine, meaningful, and memorable moments.
In many ways, Social Media has enhanced personal relationships, but it can also be “dangerously addictive”. Cathay Pacific Airways encourages travellers to go off line at least one day day next they travel.
Is it time for travellers to go off line and smell the roses? Apparently that has become the Road Less Travelled for many travellers in the age of digital media.
According to Hong Kong based Cathay Pacific Airways, most adults spend an average of 6 hours on line per day. Is that all???
And it has allowed us to form digital friendships with people that we would never have been able to meet in real life.
Sometimes we share interests with people half way around the world that we don’t share with the people next door.
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That’s the good news. The bad news is that Social Media can be “dangerouosly addictive”, the airline warns.
“This belief underlies everything that Cathay Pacific does as it strives to enhance the overall travel experience for passengers and enable them to experience more genuine, meaningful, and memorable moments along their journey,” the airline says in a press release.
To encourage people to “enhance the overall travel experience,” the airline is launching a global “One Day Off Line” campaign, encouraging travellers to “experience the world from a whole new perspective simply by switching off their online connection next time they travel.”
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When I was in Bali last year, my visit coincided with Balinese Silent Day. For 24 hours, street lamps and traffic lights were turned off. The island’s airport was shut down. Television and radio stations did not broadcast.
All external lighting was banned. Internal lighting had to be hidden behind black-out curtains. No one was allowed to go out of their compound.
In keeping with the spirit of the day, I switched off my computer for 24 hours. It was a liberating experience. I couldn’t help but think that we should do this once a month – once a week would be even better.