Technology Development and Leisure Time

In the history of mankind, possibly no century witnessed more progress in technology than the 20th century did. People have become increasingly interested in assessing the correlation between technological development and leisure time. As far as I am concerned, people’s leisure time has been shrinking as a result of the tremendous advance in modern technology.
Admittedly, thanks to modern technology, people can thus spend less time on compulsory activities, but it should also be noted that other non-compulsory activities have come to consume a larger proportion of people’s after-work life, such as education. If leisure refers to the time spent in non-compulsory activities, people’s leisure time has in fact contracted. The growing concern on education has increased the likelihood that people are willing to give up their leisure lives for educational opportunities. This trend is attributed mainly to competition and fears of job loss, causing people to turn to on-the-job training and education for secured employment. Another incentive is the increasing flexibility of educational institutions. Worthwhile knowledge can be passed on from generation of workers to another in different forms education, such as televised teaching and online courses. It comes at the cost of their leisure time.
People’s leisure lives are continuously eroded also because of ubiquity of modern technological tools, e.g., computers with Internet access and telecommunications equipment. It is noteworthy that people now take fewer and shorter vacations following the increase in the number of technology-based activities. For example, cell phones and laptops make people accessible to their superiors wherever they go and wherever they are. People are more stressed than ever before, such as shopping, food ordering, and so on. It seems that the time budget is burdened because more time should be invested in activities that were previously ignored or unnoticed.
While posing a threat on people’s...