Bizcuits | Wishes for a real-world holiday

Leanda Lee

Holiday time. Time to rest and relax? Time to explore? Time to experience something new – sights, sounds, smells and flavours?

Holiday time means different things to each of us but the exodus from Macau in the cold of December is typically to warm beaches: a mini-summer vacation. We are fortunate to have these opportunities upon our door-step.

A while back I was following the trend and went on holiday in Legazpi. In this resort, a plane hop from Manila, I was ready to put aside the minutia of the daily grind with its endless stream of large and small decisions. It was to be a holiday to relax, go down the beach, sit by the pool, or read, or day-dream; maybe a sunrise breakfast picnic overlooking Misibis Bay islands followed by quad-bike trail-ride with screeching pillion-passenger kids, or segway races on the beach.

Good food, good wine, calming beach environment, impeccable service, sun, salt-water and new experiences. What more could one ask for?

Wifi, apparently.

Of all memories of this trip, the one that sadly remains most vivid is that of a couple sitting in silence at the next table one evening: A mother and son, or so it must have been. It was like watching toddlers at parallel play. Attentive and personable waiting staff, magnificent food and champagne on a restaurant balcony with sea-horizon sunset, and there sat the two of them poring over at least 5 devices. Four thumbs were flying, only to be interrupted by a fork blindly prodding a morsel of food, or to pull out a keyboard for more heavy-duty screen play. From my shocked introduction to this behaviour, the individual screens at dining tables seems to have become commonplace.

What is hidden are those who do not come out, spending their holidays in hotel rooms glued to videos, social media and internet gaming. After all it is a holiday and that means to do what you want, right? You may as well stay at home ordering pizza delivery.

It is not so easy to disconnect, even harder for some. Recognising this fact, we find routines, protocols and strategies to maintain relationships. The Hong Kong Club had a system that forces you to you pay for a round of champagne for everyone in the lounge if you or your guest uses a mobile phone; and for a while it was a fad among some groups of Macau’s teenagers to pile their phones in the middle of the lunch table, the first one to use it would pay the group’s bill. Disruptive technologies, indeed.

When connectivity disrupts relationships, normal daily activity, studies or career, it becomes seriously problematic. Addiction to internet gaming is one such affliction. Internet gaming is arguably more addictive that gambling because there are elements that increase rewards to players, especially the young: Flow – the challenge continues to match the skill of the player; Fiero – the dopamine hit when goals are achieved; Fun failure – near misses; Social engagement; and no signals of a logical ending.

Internet Gaming Disorder was first included in the American Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders in 2013 but was not fully recognised. Until it is recognised it is not possible to formally diagnose anyone. The World Health Organisation, however, is now considering the addition of “gaming disorder” in their own publication: the 11th Version of the International Classification of Diseases. It is still early days in recognition, understanding and treatment of pathological uses of technology, as distinguished from simply spending a lot of time using it. 

Intuitively we know abnormal behaviours when we see them. Sometimes science just takes a bit of time to catch up. In the meantime, I wish you all Happy Holidays in the real world with real people.