Leisure & Role of Technology in Social Transformation

Historically there has always been a relationship between technology and leisure, but the increasing use of the internet and computer gaming technology during leisure time is facilitating a transformation in contemporary leisure activity. Due to this technolization things have come to an ease and have become entertaining. Anywhere in the world millions of mobile phone users are chatting, messaging, spending their times, socializing with other users and entertaining themselves. These technological advancements have covered many aspects of human life titled as boredom &escape , engagement, socialization, entertainment, dependence and explore new experiences.

Among these techno gadgets mobile phone has become a natural, fixed, stable part of daily life and is adopted more quickly and passionately by marginalized individuals, groups and countries. They have increased the socializing skills of people and youngsters especially have been using these cell phones to expand their external social network. Selian(2004)stated that “the youth market today is an extremely technology-savvy one, a segment of society that has been active in transforming the application and use of digital technologies in unprecedented ways”.Lepp(2014a) in his article exploring the relationship between cell phone use and leisure: an empirical analysis and implications for management stated that “mobile phone use is associated with an array of behaviours and behavioral outcomes, there is a need to better understand the potentially multi-faceted relationship between mobile phone use and leisure. Because the cell phone is so pervasive in modern life, an improved understanding of this relationship could have important implications for leisure service providers.”

Advancements of information society has led to building a shell around people where they’d spend their entire leisure time engaging on their techno gadgets which is in turn affecting their social inclusion and involvement into outdoor activities, ultimately has an effect on their health to a greater extent.