WORLD
KEEPING YOU CONNECTED TO THE HEARTBEAT OF THE WORLD
VACATION HESITATION: MANY COUNTRIES CHOOSE WORK OVER REST A
good majority of the world is spending excessive hours at work—and, as a result, leaving their vacation hours behind. Expedia’s Vacation Deprivation study found that countries such as the United States, Japan and South Korea are leaving as much as 40 percent of their vacation time unused. Europeans tend to utilize their holiday time a bit more than other countries. France generally offers up to 30 vacation days, and the majority will take and use it all. Still, these countries often report feeling vacation-deprived and staying connected to work while away from the office. People cited scheduling, budgets, too much work and mean bosses as reasons for skipped vacation days. Some also showed financial opportunism, as 18 percent report they can be paid for unused vacation days. In America—the only developed economy that doesn’t require paid vacation time— one in four people simply don’t have any days to use, according to the Vacation Equality Project. Even though most don’t use vacation time fully, statistics show they could benefit from doing so. As James Morrey, vice president of Expedia, says, “Rested employees are more productive employees.”
A SHOCKING TRUTH ABOUT OUR DISTRACTED CULTURE A recent study featured in the journal Science demonstrated human dependency on physical distraction—which, in our digital culture, most often takes the shape of a smartphone. Participants of the survey were placed in an empty room and stripped of common distractions, such
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as mobile devices. Participants shared the room with just one form of electronic “entertainment”: a 9-volt battery that gave off a “severe static shock” when touched. Out of boredom and curiosity, researchers say, many participants reached for the battery to pass the time.