C H A P T E R
8
Leisure
and Technology
Paul A. Schlag
Chapter 8
Learning Outcomes
• Understand historical and contemporary
perspectives of technology and leisure.
• Understand technology’s impact on leisure.
• Consider how technology affects your leisure.
• Learn how technology can add to or detract from
wellness.
• Consider how you can improve your life through
appropriate use of technology during leisure.
Definitions
1. Applying knowledge for some useful purpose
2. The tools developed to be used in a practical
manner
3. Idea technology: the concept that makes product
technologies useful (e.g., the idea of an assembly
line)
4. Product technology: the actual tool that brings idea
technologies to life (e.g., the conveyor belt on an
assembly line)
Past Technologies
• Advances and tools to make life easier
• Initially, technological focus is on the lower
portion of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
• Often lead to increase in discretionary time
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Name some technological advances that help
meet Maslow’s physiological and safety
needs.
(continued)
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
(continued)
Historical Areas of Advancement
(continued)
Historical Areas of Advancement
(continued)
Influences of Technological
Advancements
• Advancements free up time separate from
tasks of daily living.
• Advancements provide access to leisure
opportunities.
• Technologies become part of leisure
experience (e.g., phonographs, films).
Contemporary Technologies
What is Moore’s law?
• The number of transistors that can be
placed on an integrated circuit doubles
every 2 years.
• Many interpret this to mean that computing
capacity doubles every 2 years.
People of all ages enjoy connecting to a virtual world while the real
world is all around them.
Contemporary Activities That
Affect Your Life
List some contemporary activities that affect
your life.
Does technology enhance connectedness, or is it a distraction from
deeper connections?
Contemporary Technologies
How have the technologies you listed relate to
• your free time,
• where your leisure occurs, and
• your leisure experiences?
Computer and Internet Users
Student Computer
and Internet Activities
(continued)
Student Computer and Internet
Activities (continued)
Technology’s Impact on Leisure
and Wellness
• There are those who put up with
technology.
• There are those who wholeheartedly
embrace technology for its own sake.
• There are those who reject technology.
• Which are you?
Leisure, Technology, and Wellness
Technology affects our lives
• socially,
• emotionally,
• physically,
• spiritually, and
• intellectually.
Technology and Wellness
How have these technologies affected you
and society socially?
• Social networking sites
• Computers
• Video games
• Television, DVD players, surround sound
• Transportation
Physical Impacts of Technology
• Technology has decreased our bodily
movement.
– Work used to be physical.
– Domestic tasks used to be more physically
demanding.
– Leisure was sometimes more physically demanding.
(continued)
Physical Impacts of Technology
(continued)
• How can technology help you feel good or
bad?
• How have contemporary technologies
affected us physically?
• How can technology be used to help us stay
physically fit?
Spiritual Impacts
When was the last time you considered these
aspects?
• Where you came from
• Why you are here on earth
• What you want to accomplish
• Your relationship to your fellow human
beings
Spiritual Benefits of Technology
How can technology be used to help us
spiritually?
When was the last time you
pondered life’s universal
questions?
Intellectual Development
• Overwhelming amount of information
• Determining reliability and validity of
information
• Tapping into resources to learn (iTunes,
virtual worlds, online learning resources)
• How can you use technology to develop
intellectually?
Deviant Uses of Technology
• Technology may hinder social, emotional, physical,
spiritual, and intellectual development
• List some technologies that could be detrimental in
each of these areas. Examples:
– Television
– Online gambling
– Pornography
• When does technology use become detrimental to
development?
Technology and Leisure Plan
Develop a plan to use technology during
leisure for positive development in your life.