The Ayana resort in Bali is putting its foot down on putting your phone down. The upscale resort is banning not just phones but all digital devices from its pool and beach areas.
The idea is to detach people from their screens and get them to focus on their immediate surroundings and companions, to “truly relax and be in the moment,” according to a hotel spokesperson
Without a ban, it seems, most people are constant checking their social media or work, posting pictures instead of looking at scenery, or just worrying they might miss something. There’s even a name for this first 21st-century disease: “nomaphobia,” the inability to switch off and put the phone down.
Polls in the U.S. found that more than 20% of people on holiday checked their phones hourly, 14% twice an hour and 8% admitted to checking more than 20 times an hour, or about once every three minutes. In a British survey, 38% of adults said they thought they were using their phones too much.
