It occurred to me recently, as I was sitting in a hot tub at the fabulous Mekka Cafe in Arcata California, speculatively sipping a delicately seasoned latte (no foam please), that what the world needs now, or at least what the U.S. needs now, is not love sweet love, but rather, LEISURE TIME.  Consider if you will, an average American's daily routine:

Arise at dawn and perform daily toilet rituals

Hustle to work (skipping breakfast is quite normative)

Work, work, work (why take a lunch break when one can just work right through it?)

In the late afternoon proceed to vendo-land for a quick, high-fat, high-calorie pick-me-up

Work late and go home to a frozen, nukable dinner in front of the Television

We are a country with a long history of leisure time; however, in recent years, it appears that we have forgotten the importance of leisure time.  Time spent in activities with friends, out-of-doors in motion, or indoors creating art, music, letters, meals, whatever seems to have been lost in the wake of the never ending work week and the time in front of the idiot box.  And, I must state emphatically, that a little TV viewing is not a bad thing.  It is the extended hours when the human, reduced to a vegatative state, stares, transfixed to the black box.  The time sink of the twentieth century, TV viewing is not quality leisure time.

Where has the leisure time gone?  Our capitalistic dream has run amok!  We now work and work and work and for what?  We have eliminated the leisure time to enjoy the fruits of our labors.  The forty hour work week has become a fifty hour week and then a sixty hour work week.  By the time we have finished working we are spent, we have lost any ability to engage in leisure activities.  Clearly, we are working too much, and not recreating enough.

We must recreate more and with greater intensity!  I personally empower you, good Earth citizen, to take your leisure time with gusto, and recreate as best as you can.   Furthermore, you must recruit others to be leisurely with you.  And we must aim for greater leisure opportunities all around.

As I have explained above, there is a great need for leisure time.  To date, there is a budding field devoted to research on Leisure.  And, it is my humble prediction that the field will begin to really take off as the Millennium passes.  There are several distinct areas that I can identify for future research to pursue.

First, there is a need to help people understand that they need more quality leisure time.  In the U.S., we have become a work oriented society.  we work and work and work.  And then, we work some more.  It is all about work.  We, as a culture, do not understand the need for relaxation and restoration that results from leisure activities.  Other cultures have recognized the importance of leisure time, for example, the Japanese have integrated training in leisure time activities into their education system.  There is a need to develop adequate leisure time activity skills and to teach individuals how to enjoy leisure.  We need to understand that leisure is important and that we must eschew guilt associated with time away from work.

In addition to teaching individuals how to enjoy leisure, we need to enact policy that encourages greater participation in leisure activities.  Some European cultures have allocated longer and more frequent vacation and holiday time to promote rest and relaxation.  Researchers are needed to identify realistic policy options to encourage greater participation in leisure activities.  These policies must identify leisure goals and objectives and motivate corporations and employers to encourage their employees to participate in greater leisure.

Lee, R.E. (1998).  Leisure time.   <http://psych.umbc.edu/~rlee2/>  The Cyberbeach Home page.