Using Technology to Predict Leisure Activities and Quality of Life

Abstract

AbstractThis chapter will discuss the usage of more objective and unobtrusive ways technology can be used to assess leisure activities. It is well known that leisure activities are positively correlated with measures of quality of life and subjective well-being. How we spend our free time has a great deal of influence on how we subjectively assess the quality of our lives. One aspect of our leisure time, which is gaining more and more interest, is the use of smartphones and wearables. According to global statistics, almost half of the global population spends more than 5 h a day using their smartphones. The use of technology has a profound effect on the way we spend our lives, socialize and entertain. Because our use of technology leaves a massive amount of digital data, we are now able to search for patterns of digital behaviour and use them as proxies or predictors for real life behaviours, bypassing or complementing self-reports and subjective measures. Our discussion revolves around several aspects of technology and leisure time. First, how technology use relates to leisure activities and what alternative unobtrusive measures could be developed to measure or predict leisure activities. Second, we will discuss the positive and negative aspects of technology use.