First of all, I didn't say we should hold back progress. Just that I'm personally mourning the loss of disconnected spaces.
Also, it's not an issue of self discipline when social norms dictate that everyone around me is using their phones, and expecting me to do so to interact with them. On a cruise ship there used to be no such expectation. No boss expecting me to be aware of new emails, no friends expecting me to respond to their Facebook invites if I want to come to their parties, no one at the bar expecting me to follow them on Instagram, and no restaurants asking me to scan their QR code if I want to eat.
I don't know when the last time is you've tried to live for a week without a phone, but its become next to impossible unless you're in a protected environment like a cruise ship or a wilderness retreat.
What are you talking about? Just leave the phone at home and go outside. Tell your boss you don’t have coverage. There’s nothing to mourn here maybe besides your lack of really easy self discipline and frankly I’m having a hard time empathizing with or understanding it.
Better yet, tell your boss (and everyone else) you check for texts twice a day, and emails once a day, and respond with similar timeframes. If it's urgent, well, they know where you are. They can come and see you.
They'll whinge at you for living in the 20th Century, but your stress levels will be down.
Embrace the fact that no-one is irreplaceable, and train your understudies.
If I'm on vacation, I'll tell my boss I'm on vacation. Maybe I'll skim work emails and even handle ones when I can do so quickly but I'm under no obligation to do so.
Also, it's not an issue of self discipline when social norms dictate that everyone around me is using their phones, and expecting me to do so to interact with them. On a cruise ship there used to be no such expectation. No boss expecting me to be aware of new emails, no friends expecting me to respond to their Facebook invites if I want to come to their parties, no one at the bar expecting me to follow them on Instagram, and no restaurants asking me to scan their QR code if I want to eat.
I don't know when the last time is you've tried to live for a week without a phone, but its become next to impossible unless you're in a protected environment like a cruise ship or a wilderness retreat.