Things travel sites won’t tell you: Put the phone away and set aside a day for wandering about without any plan

Kecak is a unique dance performance; there are no musical instruments involved, just 40-50 men sitting or dancing in a circle and chanting as if in a hypnotic trance. They are bare-chested and wear black-and-white checked sarongs. The lead characters are dressed in flamboyantly colourful outfits and are bedecked with jewellery and headgear. The story is familiar — Ram, Sita, and Lakshman in Dandakaranya, Ram going off in pursuit of a deer, the Lakshmanrekha being drawn (depicted by the seated men closing into a tighter circle around Sita), the fight with Jatayu, and the abduction of Sita.

For me, all of this was punctuated by the constant clicking of the massive telephoto lens over my right shoulder. I’m sure that the American gentleman attached to the lens watched the entire performance through the camera crosshairs. Meanwhile, a Korean (most likely) trio of millennials (most definitely) in front of me took innumerable selfies. Ninety-five per cent of the spectators had cameras flashing, shooting, and clicking through the performance. When Hanuman made an appearance — an impish, white-clad performer who jumped about in the crowd of onlookers — people clamoured for selfies with him.

A similar scene had played out before my eyes at the Hemis Festival in Ladakh earlier this year, where everyone was a photographer. Being a mere spectator is now passé. After all, “Instagram or it didn’t happen”, right? Travel seems to have devolved into an endless series of photographs and videos, where we shoot everything but see nothing. Instead of “collecting” destinations, we are now amassing an online album of photos in exotic locales around the world.

The selfie stick is the new wand of Narcissus. In Bali, I saw people preening and posing everywhere, from the beaches to the temples. At a particularly scenic spot on Nusa Penida Island, a bare tree struck a picturesque pose against the blue sea; people queued up to get their photos taken sitting atop its branch while a local helpfully brought out a ladder. Everyone took turns climbing the tree, posing, and then passing the baton to the next in queue.

One might argue that travel is about making memories. What better way to do that than to take a photo or video? But the more I travel and watch people (and consider my own camera shenanigans), I wonder if we are now travelling in pursuit of that shot we saw on Instagram, or the next profile photo on Facebook, or the number of hearts on Twitter. It’s a concern shared by travel writer extraordinaire Pico Iyer in a recent essay. “I worry that travel is becoming more a form of consumerism than a real exercise in curiosity,” he says. Where do we draw the line?

The most obvious solution is to leave the technology at home. Do I hear a collective gasp of dismay? Let me add my voice to that gasp. It’s all very well to say but it’s harder to put it into practice. But it’s not that difficult to have a “no phone at meals” rule. I would also advocate a ban on selfies, especially of the duck-face variety. Many museums have already banned the selfie stick; I wish more attractions would follow suit.

It’s also important to leave some room for serendipity. Don’t over-plan every minute. Set aside a day or an afternoon for wandering about without any agenda. Put the phone in your pocket (after all, you may need it to navigate back to your hotel or Airbnb) and let your mind’s eye soak in the place. Another way to not let social media hijack your vacation is not to get a local number or an international SIM card. It becomes easier to ignore the online world, and to resist the temptation of posting real-time updates.

As for me, I have the excuse of being a writer. I tell myself that I need to photograph this scene or that plate of food for reference. Even so, I’m making a conscious effort to put the phone down more often and instead just watch and listen (and smell). Another favourite activity is to saunter about a new city or neighbourhood, and find a nice café to watch people or to scribble down my impressions. As for a selfie stick, if you ever catch me with one, feel free to beat me with it.