Your summer vacation, unplugged: Is it even possible?

After checking in to the hotel, we immediately headed to the pool and beach area to walk around and get some fresh air. As we strolled by the pool, all I saw were parents reading electronic devices while their kids (and iPhone-less nannies) played around them.

I would guess 80 percent or more were reading some sort of digital device, be it a smartphone or iPad. It then hit me: They were “connected,” but they were completely disconnected from their kids. A family vacation, I thought, should mean 100 percent connection with my family (OK, 97 percent). I didn’t want to be that dad who was always looking at his iPhone instead of focusing on his kids.

When we got to the room, I put all my devices intp the safe and planned not to look at a single one for the entire trip, short of two quick daily glances for emergency emails from work on my BlackBerry. For me, that meant no photo sharing on Facebook, no witty comments on Twitter, no blogging, no Foursquare check-ins, no reading my digital edition of USA Today. Nothing.