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M. Baranowski and D. Mroczkowska
Given the importance of leisure and recreation for people and society, it is crucial
to facilitate and support leisure activities that coincide with sustainable development.
In this context, it is clear that it is crucial to promote not only an attitude towards
leisure that meets the objectives of sustainable development but also to propose
sustainable forms of recreation at the same time.
3 The Technological Transformation of Leisure
(Algorithmic Automation) and Sustainable Development
An important objective of research in the context of sustainable development should
be to examine the impact of technologies on sustainable development. Research on
the technological and commercial transformations of leisure must not assume only
a positive contribution from these issues. A more likely scenario, as observed in
research on tourism, is that leisure technology is as much a part of the problem as a
potential solution/advantage.
The fundamental question that arises here is whether, in a capitalist society based
on sophisticated technologies (algorithms) and the idea of acceleration, it is possible
to rest. Secondly, leisure has become an element of the market, an object of consumption, a kind of social experience where almost every aspect of an individual’s life is
or can be designed in advance.
Researchers agree on one thing: technologies increase the so-called “gray areas,”
domains that cannot be classified exclusively as work-related or extra-occupational
life, including leisure (Olson-Buchanan and Boswell 2006; Diaz et al. 2012; OlsonBuchanan, Boswell and Morgan 2016). Thanks to technology, individuals can efficiently respond to the demands of their professional or private life while at the same
time being—psychologically or spatially—in a different domain of activity.
Laptops or mobile phones help to coordinate schedules, save time and perform
several tasks simultaneously. In particular, a smartphone, thanks to its small size
(miniature) and ease of portability, the ability to communicate from any place or
“multi-task” (combining a watch, a notebook, a phone, a music player, a camera in
one device), has saved time and money in many situations, giving them a sense of
comfort and independence.
Technologies, which are entangled in the networks of social dependencies, act as
a catalyst for broader processes related to the demarcation of work and life boundaries and ways of defining gray areas. In all analyzed cases, it was not possible
to work without the use of mobile and communication technologies, which was
further strengthened during the coronavirus pandemic (cf. Singer and Sang-Hun
2020). Technologies shape the way in which the examined individuals function in
and out of work, but they are certainly not a direct factor determining the whole life of
individuals. The role of technology is primarily limited to the fact that it determines
a specific logic of functioning in the network, which can be modified by users and
whose changes affect the organization of time, adaptation to the environment, and
M. Baranowski and D. Mroczkowska
Given the importance of leisure and recreation for people and society, it is crucial
to facilitate and support leisure activities that coincide with sustainable development.
In this context, it is clear that it is crucial to promote not only an attitude towards
leisure that meets the objectives of sustainable development but also to propose
sustainable forms of recreation at the same time.
3 The Technological Transformation of Leisure
(Algorithmic Automation) and Sustainable Development
An important objective of research in the context of sustainable development should
be to examine the impact of technologies on sustainable development. Research on
the technological and commercial transformations of leisure must not assume only
a positive contribution from these issues. A more likely scenario, as observed in
research on tourism, is that leisure technology is as much a part of the problem as a
potential solution/advantage.
The fundamental question that arises here is whether, in a capitalist society based
on sophisticated technologies (algorithms) and the idea of acceleration, it is possible
to rest. Secondly, leisure has become an element of the market, an object of consumption, a kind of social experience where almost every aspect of an individual’s life is
or can be designed in advance.
Researchers agree on one thing: technologies increase the so-called “gray areas,”
domains that cannot be classified exclusively as work-related or extra-occupational
life, including leisure (Olson-Buchanan and Boswell 2006; Diaz et al. 2012; OlsonBuchanan, Boswell and Morgan 2016). Thanks to technology, individuals can efficiently respond to the demands of their professional or private life while at the same
time being—psychologically or spatially—in a different domain of activity.
Laptops or mobile phones help to coordinate schedules, save time and perform
several tasks simultaneously. In particular, a smartphone, thanks to its small size
(miniature) and ease of portability, the ability to communicate from any place or
“multi-task” (combining a watch, a notebook, a phone, a music player, a camera in
one device), has saved time and money in many situations, giving them a sense of
comfort and independence.
Technologies, which are entangled in the networks of social dependencies, act as
a catalyst for broader processes related to the demarcation of work and life boundaries and ways of defining gray areas. In all analyzed cases, it was not possible
to work without the use of mobile and communication technologies, which was
further strengthened during the coronavirus pandemic (cf. Singer and Sang-Hun
2020). Technologies shape the way in which the examined individuals function in
and out of work, but they are certainly not a direct factor determining the whole life of
individuals. The role of technology is primarily limited to the fact that it determines
a specific logic of functioning in the network, which can be modified by users and
whose changes affect the organization of time, adaptation to the environment, and