The Impact of New Technologies on Leisure in Developed and Emerging Economies

Abstract

In the last two decades there has been an exponential increase in worldwide computer use, followed by a similar expansion in mobile phone usage. There are a number of factors caused this increase: technological advances in functionality, the migration of computer use from work to the home environment, increased accessibility of data through the increased capacity of search engines and the rapid growth in popularity of social media websites after 2004. The exponential growth of mobile phone use followed a similar but more rapid trajectory and the user base expanded in emerging economies when 3G mobile phone technologies provided internet access. There has been a major shift in the way people communicate particularly the exponential increase in the use of social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, Skype and Baibu. Sites such as iTunes and YouTube have changed the way music and video are accessed, listened to and used. Changing patterns of technology use have had a major impact on the way people conduct their lives and have impacted significantly on leisure activities in both developed and emerging economies: the types of activities and the way those activities are pursued in both at home and when people travel.