Ryan Healy vindicated?
Echoing Neitzche, self-appointed Gen Y spokesman, Ryan Healy, recently declared that vacations are dead. Was I was depressed when I heard that. Is there any meaning in life without vacations? I didn't think so and, in desperation, I lashed out at the lad.
But, now, a more articulate writer has explained what poor Ryan was trying to say.
1. You're going to a go-go but you don't want to come back to a thousand emails. So for a few minutes every day you take your martini over to a computer and sort thru your mailbox or some such thing.
2. You want to go away for a long weekend but you are needed in the office for an hour on Friday afternoon. No problem. Leave on Thursday night and log into a conference call or web meeting at 4pm on Friday. It cuts into your time off but without the technology you wouldn't have any time off, period, see?
But then there's "Old Europe". Always the holdout.
Some experts believe the European way – usually four to six weeks of holidays annually – is healthy, giving the mind and body time to completely rest.
Maybe this is where Sarkoszy can start kicking some European butt.
The downside or work/vacation blending? Once some people sit down at the computer they will not be able to get away. And that means angry spouses, divorce and decreased productivity due to stress. Then twenty years from now some dope will discover grandpa's remedy for workplace blues. Can you guess? A vacation without technology.
