The phrase 'digital sabbatical' is experiencing it's 10 minutes in the limelight.  This new buzz phrase is being discussed on blogs and social media, much the way the phrase 'staycation' became all the rage in magazines a few years back.

Image by: Scott Beale/Laughing Squid

If you're not in the cool crowd or hip to the new lingo, a digital sabbatical is where you take anywhere from a day or two to a month or two away from email, social media and become unplugged.  There's varying degrees of this of course.  Gwen Bell talks here and here about her sabbatical and what was involved.  There's also the Google search I ran here.  She listed parameters such as no Twitter, Facebook or blogging.  She would however still be working which means checking email daily.  There are a thousand different ways to enact this sabbatical, none of them right or wrong.  They are simply customized to the person making the decision.

So the first thing about digital sabbaticals that I think is highly important to note is the reason behind them.  This idea behind these breaks from incessant email checking, tweeting, status updates etc. is to give you back a life outside of the digital realm, reconnect with family, friends etc. and to become more connected with the 'real world'.  There can be a host of other reasons, but these are the main themes I see in these decisions.

Let's face it, we all have smart phones, CrackBerries - ahem, I mean BlackBerries, iPhones, and we are completely connected to everyone all the time.  I have my iPhone with me 24/7 and any ping, beep or honk and I'm all over it.  I can tell you what I'm doing at any moment of the day, and I can tell you what you're doing too.  It is enough to make me wonder what I'm missing when I'm texting, tweeting, emailing, or surfing on my phone.  When I'm sitting in a coffee shop waiting for someone, rather than read a newspaper or people watch, I'm eyeball deep in iPhone apps.  Is it bad?  No.  Am I disconnected with the world in front of me?  Yup.

So taking a digital sabbatical would free up my time to appreciate people, places and things I miss when I'm too busy to look up from all the social media coming at me.  I think I'd also learn that I don't need that immediate gratification.  I don't need to know what's happening to everyone all the time.  Sure, the news is great and it's great to be informed, but do I need a blow by blow update via Twitter?  Probably not.  Unless it's happening on my street, chances are the effects of the Thing happening won't hit me until at least the 6 o'clock news.  When I get an email, I don't have to respond right now, it can typically wait a few hours or days.  If it couldn't, they would have picked up the phone.  Taking a break from all that immediate access to knowledge would teach us that we don't always have to have everything at our fingertips.  Life will go on, and it won't collapse without us.

Then I got to thinking about the people who I've read about taking these sabbaticals.  By and large, they are self-employed.  So what about those that don't have 100% control over their working world?  Can you still pull off this digital sabbatical if you are still required to email all day and be tied to your work phone?

I rather think you can.  I personally don't agree that you should have your work cell phone on 24/7.  Exceptions to every rule, of course.  Often there are professions that require you to be on call.  Assuming you are not one of them, turn off your work phone at a certain time of day.  It doesn't have to be at exactly 5pm, but maybe by dinner time with your family, it's off.  Stop checking your work emails at a certain time of day.  As with my statement about social media, your job and company will still be standing in the morning.  Spend time with your family, friends, pets, hobbies etc.

So it's completely possible that you could in fact take a digital sabbatical.  Now, the $6400 question... should you?  I think that if you feel as though you have to check your various digital sources of information constantly, then perhaps it's something to consider.  Or it's impeding on your social and/or family life, then it's time to examine your usage.  Or maybe you feel like it's the only way you are connected to anyone or anything.  Then yes... I really think you ought to consider it!

Start easy, maybe take a day where you don't check your email, Twitter or Facebook.  If that goes well, try a weekend.  You may not ever need a full week or a month.  It's about re-charging, reconnecting and finding a life outside the digital realm.  Some people don't have any need or desire to do it for more than a day or two, and there's no law that says you have to do it for an extending period of time.  That's the beauty of this hiatus - you determine the parameters!  You make the rules here!

In case you're wondering, no, I have not ever gone more than 2 days without checking in on my social media outlets.  There are days when my email and Twitter are my life lines, but there are lots of days where I don't tweet or update.  I love this blog and likely wouldn't choose to give it up even if I were to go on hiatus from other sites.  I go in cycles and the days that I don't want to be connected, I don't feel as though I have to be.  However, I haven't ruled this out.  When I turn off my Twitter feed, close Facebook and close out my mail program, I am often much more focused and productive than when I have all these things pinging at me.  There may come a time when I need to go offline.  For now though, I continue to strive for balance and moderation. 

Have you ever taken a digital sabbatical?  Or are you thinking of it?  Share your thoughts on this new phenomenon.