leisure.htm

Notes on Leisure

In Ancient Greece, explains Aeon, most of the labour was outsourced to slaves, while wealthier parts of society pursued other activities. “Leisure was an active state of mind. Good leisure meant playing sports, learning music theory, debating qualified peers and doing philosophy. Leisure was not easy, but it was supposed to be gratifying.”

Keinan believes social media exacerbates our focus on productive leisure. Referencing a 2021 research paper, she suggests people are pivoting to signal their status and accomplishments in alternative domains – in this case, the use of their free time.

Some try to ‘hack’ leisure by applying productivity techniques, says Aeon, like listening to a podcast while jogging or watching Netflix shows at twice the regular speed.

Part of the problem, new research shows, is how comprehensively we internalise the message that leisure is wasteful. Selin A Malkoc, associate professor of marketing at the Fisher College of Business at The Ohio State University and co-author of the study, says certain people perceive leisure as lacking value, even when it doesn’t interfere with their pursuit of goals.

Certain people perceive leisure as lacking value, even when it doesn’t interfere with their pursuit of goals

Types of leisure:

Terminal leisure: activity and the goal are 'fused' together. The activity is immediately rewarding and an end goal in itself
Instrumental leisure: taking a child trick-or-treating to check-off parental duties

Keinan says a way to reduce the pressure of not enjoying leisure is by “assuming a broader perspective on life and anticipating your long-term regrets, as it allows people to enjoy the present more”.

He (Keinan) recommends using mindfulness to help savour leisure experiences. “It expands your subjective perception of time (i.e., you feel like you have more of it) and enhances memory formation, which means you’ll not only feel like your vacations lasted longer, but you’ll remember them a lot better.”

“If you approach a vacation with a ‘should’ mindset, you might be messing it up,” warns Malkoc. “Don’t let your belief that you ‘need to get the best out of this’ get the best of you.”