Leisure
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- For the album by Blur, see Leisure (album).
Leisure time came about in the late 1800s with the rise of mechanized industry. New machines made work more efficient, and the typical worker's week was cut by over twenty hours. With this new slot of time, workers took time to enjoy life by attending sporting events (such as baseball and football), watching plays (such as musical showcases and Vaudeville) and eventually, going to the movies.
Leisure time is time not spent on compulsory activities, like employment, education, running a business and household chores. The distinction is not strict, since necessity can be larger or smaller, and things may be done for pleasure as well as longer term usefulness.
This time can be spent on two main kinds of leisure:
- Active leisure: active recreation, vacation, leisure sport (going to the gym, etc.; sport for fun rather than for competition). This type of leisure rarely leads to boredom.
- Lounging, "doing nothing": the kind of "reclining-in-the-sun" type leisure, which implies going to sleep or a near-sleep lounging state. It could be called "wasting time". Lounging that is not enjoyable can lead to boredom. Some moral codes frown upon this type of leisure, while others celebrate it, as in the British magazine The Idler.
Sport fishing may fall in both categories, depending on how active one is.
Some types of leisure have recently been described as quality time.
Cultural differences
Different cultures have different standards of leisure, dependent on, for example, whether the culture is predominantly capitalist or socialist.
See also
- Lifestyle
- Leisure Thermal Comfort
- The Theory of the Leisure Class