Test the belief that you must always be reachable, in a small way, before you test it in a big one. A recent news story shows why. According to a Business Today report, Jairam Sridharan, described as MD and CEO of Piramal Finance, posted on LinkedIn after a 16-day break with no email, calls, WhatsApp, social media, or news. He came back to roughly 3,000 unread WhatsApp messages, 2,000 unread emails, and hundreds of missed calls, a few of them from his boss and the company’s promoter. His takeaway, as quoted: “Everything in the world has carried on just fine without me.”[1]
This is one person’s account as relayed by one outlet. Bettering Me has not independently verified it, and a single executive’s experience cannot tell you what would happen in your job. What it can do is point to a question worth asking yourself.
The honest trade-off, in his words
The report says Sridharan did not frame the break as a pure win. It says a close friend went through a significant and distressing life event while he was offline, and that he acknowledged the break carries costs. He is quoted as saying that interruption-free time involves “some costs, some sacrifices,” but that being fully present with family for two weeks was priceless to him.[1] That is a clear-eyed trade-off, and only you can decide where your line sits.
What research says about time away from work
Two bodies of research are relevant, and both have limits.
A meta-analysis of 7 vacation studies found that vacations had a small positive effect on health and well-being (d = +0.43), but that the effect faded soon after people returned to work (d = -0.38).[2] The review also noted that what people do on vacation had hardly been studied. A bigger meta-analysis of 86 publications and 38,124 employees looked at psychological detachment from work, meaning mentally switching off during non-work time. Greater detachment was linked to less exhaustion, higher life satisfaction, better sleep, and better well-being. It was not significantly related to physiological stress indicators, and the studies were largely correlational, so the link does not prove that detaching causes the benefit.[3]
The takeaway: switching off tends to go with better self-reported well-being, and the boost from time off may not last unless you build in regular breaks.
A smaller version you can try
Most of us cannot go dark for 16 days. A practical version:
- Take one full day per month fully offline and note what needed your attention versus what resolved without you.
- Audit your “urgent” notifications. Many urgent-feeling pings are just fast, not important. The difference matters.
- Tell one person where you are. A single point of contact for real emergencies makes it easier to switch off the rest.
- Plan the next break before you return from this one. Because the benefit of time off can fade quickly, regular short breaks may serve you better than one long one.
References
↑︎ Source reporting: Business Today. Everything carried on just fine without me: CEO’s viral post on taking 16 day digital detox. June 25, 2026. URL: https://www.businesstoday.in/latest/trends/story/everything-carried-on-just-fine-without-me-ceos-viral-post-on-taking-16-day-digital-detox-536527-2026-06-25 Bettering Me has not independently verified this report.
↑︎ de Bloom J, Kompier M, Geurts S, de Weerth C, Taris T, Sonnentag S. Do we recover from vacation? Meta-analysis of vacation effects on health and well-being. J Occup Health. 2009;51(1):13-25. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1539/joh.K8004
↑︎ Wendsche J, Lohmann-Haislah A. A meta-analysis on antecedents and outcomes of detachment from work. Front Psychol. 2017;7:2072. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.02072
Kurt Greiner
Kurt is a digital strategist and IT professional blending emerging technology with practical application to help businesses and individuals streamline their digital presence. His current work focuses on the intersection of intentional living and technological resilience, exploring how individuals can leverage modern tools to navigate the second half of life with purpose.
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