Memorial Day Weekend is the unofficial start of summer. Most companies are closed today, and workers look forward to spending their day off enjoying parades, barbecues or a day on the water.  Or perhaps you’re like me, heading out of town to enjoy a camping trip with my family. Not only do I enjoy spending time with my family in the great outdoors, there’s an added bonus: the unplug factor.

Unfortunately, the awesome world of social media and mobile computing makes it harder and harder to completely disengage from work during nights, weekends, holidays and vacations. A new eMarketer article reports that the US has the highest percentage of mobile workers in its workforce, with 75.5% of the workforce, or 119.7 million people, expected to be mobile by 2013 – and 79% of them plan on taking their work-related devices with them on vacation. That’s a lot of work happening on the go.

In fact, 3 in 10 workers polled by TNS for InterCall said they needed to stay connected to their work 24/7, and the sense of urgency varies by age and gender, as shown below:

Social media is enabling some of these connections; in an earlier IDC study, 57% said they used social media for business purposes at least once a week.

So what does this mean for digital marketers? eMarketer advises, “Social media presents great opportunities for marketers trying to reach workers. However, it might be a good idea to vary marketing messages sent during the workweek and those presented to workers checking in on weekends.”  We agree with that, and can help you create different messaging based on day of week.

This holiday weekend, remember to take a moment and put the Blackberry or iPhone away and enjoy time with your family; work will still be there on Tuesday. And while you’re at it, take a few moments to remember the veterans who gave so much to protect our freedoms, and the active military who aren’t getting a day off today or anytime soon. OpenMoves salutes them.