Connected travelling

It is amazing the way people travel now. Everyone is constantly connected. In the back-packer-style guesthouse where I am staying, in the evening when people gather in the bar/pool area a majority of them have their laptops with them sitting chatting, surfing, emailing, skyping etc. If they don’t have a laptop they have an I-phone. I should not say too much about it as I am one of them myself sitting with my laptop, but this is actually the first time I brought it for a holiday and mostly to stay in touch with my friend here without spending a lot on the mobile phone bill roaming via Sweden twice. It definitely has other advantages as well, but I think I have never seen so many connected travellers in one place. What happened to take a break from the normal world and getting absorbed with the environment?