Well-being in digital-free tourism: A mixed-methods rhythmanalysis
Abstract
Tourism research has largely treated well-being as a motivation or outcome, neglecting how it unfolds in-situ and relying on self-report data. Through a mixed-methods rhythmanalysis, this study examines how well-being emerges and evolves in digital-free tourism. Following 23 participants through three-night digital-free cabin stays, we integrate electrodermal activity, interviews, and diaries to capture embodied experiences of disconnection. Participants experienced rhythmic re-attunement from linear, digital temporalities towards cyclical, embodied rhythms aligned with nature and interpersonal connection. Physiological data showed varied responses to disconnection and fewer detected skin conductance responses post-trip, supporting qualitative accounts of calm and rhythmic re-attunement. Through attunement, plenitude, stillness, and reflexivity, we reconceptualise well-being as a dynamic rhythmic process shaped through embodied experiences, environmental cues, and relational synchrony.
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Authors: Wenjie Cai, Brad McKenna, 李善仕, Scott Cohen, Lena Waizenegger, René Riedl
Institutions: University of Johannesburg, Xiamen University, Johannes Kepler University of Linz, Canadian University of Dubai, University of East Anglia, University of Algarve, Auckland University of Technology, Linnaeus University, University of Greenwich, University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria