Conceptualizing E-leisure

Abstract

The emergence and diffusion of new information and communication technologies have profoundly affected and are still transforming individuals’ leisure. These technologies offer many enjoyable activities often described as “online leisure”, “cyber leisure” or “E-leisure”. Although numerous studies have examined such activities, only few scholars have related to the essence of E-leisure. Based on the principal components of leisure studies and new media research, this article aims to conceptualise E-leisure and to explore its distinctive qualities. It starts with discussing the relevance of the core definitional-aspects of traditional leisure (i.e., time, activity and experience) for conceptualizing E-leisure, and examines which dimensions related to these aspects are relevant to E-leisure and which have lost significance. The article also suggests four new dimensions required for fuller understanding of E-leisure, namely, synchronicity, interactivity, anonymity, and virtual reality, and presents some arguments about possible associations between these dimensions and the core aspects of leisure. Lastly, it discusses the “mediatization” of leisure and directions for future research.