Holidays under the hegemony of hyper-connectivity: getting away, but unable to escape?

Abstract

Holidays have been imagined as occasions of escape and liminal leisure. This conceptualisation requires re-evaluation as a consequence of the widespread adoption of portable communication devices (smartphones) and the use of Web 2.0 interactive platforms (social media). Studies suggest that the gratifications of contact with the 'other', and the enjoyment of the license associated with the liminal condition, are compromised by endemic contact with the domicile. An analysis draws on the work of Heidegger and Althusser, and is supported by insights from Foucault, Arendt and Lacan. It is argued that users are 'enframed' and subjected by their devices. This re-imagining is representative of an evolving change in the human condition, of which the compromising of tourism-as-escape is but one manifestation.

Volunteer Tourism as a Transformative Experience: A Mixed Methods Empirical Study

“…As previous researchers note, digital technologies (e.g., social media, videocall services) allow travelers to communicate with their pre-trip environment and maintain a connection with their peers and families while traveling (Munar and Gyimóthy 2013), hindering therefore separation and reaggregation to a point where liminality cannot be achieved (Conti and Cassel 2019). As Voase (2018) highlights, due to smartphone usage “the experience of ‘removal’ cannot be liminal, because the precondition of separation has not taken place, nor can it be ‘escape,’ because the subject remains diurnally captive to the form and force of the familiar” (p. 392). Acknowledging that not all individuals enter the liminality phase, we carried out a quantitative study aiming to further understand the prerequisites of transformation…”

Imagine being off-the-grid: millennials’ perceptions of digital-free travel

“…The constant availability online has made tourists "en-framed" by their digital devices and unable to escape on holiday (Voase, 2018).…”

Liminality in nature-based tourism experiences as mediated through social media

“…White and White (2007) and Silas et al (2016) echoed this negative affection by underlining a conflicting tension between the act of going away, and breaking the routine, and the desire or need to maintain social interaction with the home environment. In agreement with these studies, Voase (2018) argued that smartphones force tourists to meet invasive expectations that can ultimately jeopardize any liminal separation phase that might relate to the tourism experience.…”