The resort embarked on a campaign designed to prohibit the use of smartphones and other digital wares during peak hours in the resort's River Pool area.

Going on vacation to a distant destination is one way to get away from it all. But even though you've escaped from a fast-paced environment that likely drove you up the wall or at least onto a plane, it's questionable whether some folks actually abandon everything to do with their normal lives before doing the holiday thing. What with all the smartphones, tablets and other gadgets to distract them from actually unwinding, what's the point of going to great distances to relax?

No doubt that was a question that the staff and management of the Bali-based Ayana Resort and Spa were asking themselves while viewing their guests eyeballing their readouts oblivious to the scenery they paid big bucks to enjoy.

The initiative, which they've dubbed 'In The Moment', doesn't allow visitors to carry such devices into the pool area between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. But the resort has provided for additional lockers to store those items to ensure they're easily accessible in case a tourist has the urge to get rewired. Guests will also be allowed to use their smartphones to text or take those self-indulgent selfies which they can post on Instagram, Twitter or elsewhere two hours before and after the banned time period. The pool area is closed during the remaining hours.

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During that banned period, guests will be offered more traditional diversion such as chess and card games, or they can take advantage of the scenery of the two-tiered pool and Bali surroundings far more natural than what would appear on a liquid crystal display. Or they can communicate the old-fashioned way, as in chin-wagging with the other guests.

Which is exactly what the Ayana folks want to see, as they think the ban, which for the moment is only enforced at the poolside area, was also designed to encourage a more human experience that includes interaction among the tourists staying there. That being said, chances are one of the most likely topics to be discussed will concern the prohibition of everyone's favorite devices.

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