People’s attitudes and behaviours towards what they do when they are not working are changing in response to new technologies and social developments.

Modern time-starved and ‘on the go’ lifestyles mean people are attaching more importance and value to what they do with their leisure time; they are more motivated to make the best possible use of it. This has resulted in a new wave of leisure experiences, often combining a number of different events and activities in one, or crunching down broad experiences into snack-sized portions. The internet is becoming an increasingly important function in people’s leisure time and as technology improves, online entertainment options are widening. As well as facilitating communication, the web is allowing people to record and media-fy their leisure pursuits in order to add meaning, share experiences, and open their lives up to strangers. New forms of social interaction, still in their infancy today, will shape and define our leisure lives in the future.

Experience efficient

Time-poor lifestyles lived ‘on the go’ are driving creation of a new wave of leisure experiences

Driven by the motivation to optimise their time, people want to experience as great a range of leisure options as possible. Organisations have capitalised on this by ensuring their products and services can be easily used while engaged in other activities and a range of media is dedicated to helping people choose what is ‘best’ to do. This time-starved feeling has created of a new wave of optimum leisure experiences that allow users to combine a number of different events and activities, or to reduce broad experiences down.People feel under increased time pressure in both their personal and work lives. As a result there is a perception that modern lifestyles are time-poor as work is felt to be taking up all of people’s precious time. People have great problems doing all the things they want to do. While people relish the great range of leisure options available to them they often become paralysed by too much choice. In the future, people will value the brands that help them access and select services and activities more than they value the services and activities themselves.

Due to the constant feeling of time-pressure people are increasingly reducing experiences down to make them more time-economical. People snack while on the go instead of sitting down to eat, which is losing the social aspect of dining. Sending emails is also now preferred to writing letters, which is taking the personal touch out of correspondence. Dating becomes speed dating, and travelling and learning about new cultures has been crunched down into ‘experience’ holidays for independent travellers.

Leisure 2.0

As technology improves, online entertainment options are growing and more people are using the internet in their leisure time.

The internet is no longer a functional entity. It is a place for people to pass their time, express themselves and communicate with others. As a result, a new wave of compelling people-centred products and services have arrived, giving rise to the term Web 2.0 and leading some to hail the arrival of an online revolution. However, some people are willing to take their interaction with the virtual universe further than others by creating new identities for free social expression. While on the other hand people are using it to cocoon themselves in and hide away from the world.People are spending a lot more time online and are shunning television, radio and newspapers in favour of activities such as online networking, website browsing and downloading media to phones and iPods. It is also clear the internet is no longer a functional entity. As technology improves, online entertainment options are growing. Broadband penetration is rising and more people are using the internet as a leisure form in itself.

Online dating has taken off and has huge potential for continued growth. Online shopping is booming as is online betting. The rise of online role-playing games is showing that some people are willing to take their interaction with the virtual world further than others. Whether it is a case of people escaping from the real world, thousands around the globe are choosing to interact (with other avatars) in the virtual world rather than the real world.

Techy hype aside, the Web 2.0 just seems to represent what people have always done in their spare time. The revolution that’s being trumpeted is in effect just people acting out their everyday lives – shopping, socialising, chatting, dating, listening to music, watching TV, reading etc. However this time around there is a sense that the consumer is more in control, shaping products and services to meet their needs.

Get connected

The range of options for keeping in touch is wider than ever before and technology is driving the adoption of new forms of social interaction

New communication forms such as instant messaging, SMS, MMS, online chat, VoIP and the BlackBerry are allowing people to be connected at the touch of a button or a click of a mouse, wherever they might be. Social networks, which boast memberships running into hundreds of million, are about people needing to record and media-fy their leisure pursuits in order to add meaning, share experiences and open their lives up to strangers. This connected community is giving rise to new, often wacky and spontaneous, leisure pursuits.The idea of community and connectivity is what unites the online and offline worlds and their impact on leisure. While some say community is dead, others say it is just changing. One thing is clear: the range of options available for keeping in touch is more extensive than ever before.

Children are becoming technology savvy at a young age and are adopting new forms of social interaction. MySpace, Bebo, Facebook and other social networks enjoy huge memberships.

New connected community leisure pursuits that have been enabled by social networks – often original and spontaneous like flash mobs, mass pillow fights, mobile clubbing, guerrilla gigs, giant public games of Pacman – are all examples of communities expressing themselves in new ways, perhaps as an antidote to the pressures and seriousness of modern life.