Social Media Consuming You? Try An 'Unplugged Vacation'

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Here's a concept: For your next vacation, how about no phone or email?

It's called an "unplugged vacation."

"It could be appealing, because when you're on vacation, you don't want to have to answer to your family all the time," one woman told CBS2's Cindy Hsu.

"It's just the fact of if you're in an emergency and you can't contact anyone, I think is just the scary part," said another.

There's a new travel company called "Off the Grid," where unplugging is the whole idea.

"There are no phones allowed, so you show up and you kind of put your phone away into a little lock box and then for the entire trip, there's no internet and you're expected to stay off the phone and socialize and just have a really amazing time." the company's CEO and founder Zach Beattie said.

The trips last 7-10 days with a maximum of 30 people. Beattie said their trip to Lisbon, Portugal in July has sold out.

"We've got everything from coffee and conversation in the morning to surf lessons in the afternoon to game nights in the evening and walking tours," Beattie said.

Not just travel companies are encouraging people to turn off the tech.

"There's a big hotel chain called Wyndham hotels and they've actually started a program where they offer a 5 percent discount to families who become a part of their reading and unplugged program," travel expert Michaela Guzy said.

Now there are a lot of hotels that don't have official unplugged policies, but they will accommodate you. Like the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, where you can give your phone to the concierge and they'll keep it in storage for you as long as you like and charge it.

A recent survey found 16 percent of people never unplug from social media during a vacation and 43 percent wish they could.

"I think when you have a vacation or an experience where you have truly unplugged it's a real opportunity to truly connect with someone and just really appreciate the beauty and the nature that is around you," Guzy said.

And if it's all about taking pictures on your phone, you can always go old school and use a camera.

Travel experts say if you do commit to unplug during a vacation, you need to do it before you even buy the tickets to have a better chance of success.