iLeisure: Conceptulizing youth online leisure and quality of life

This paper addresses young people’s Internet facilitated leisure and its relationship to quality of life. While there is a large body of literature examining the role of communication technologies in the shaping of contemporary society, relatively little attention has been given to the influence of technology on the organization and experience of leisure. In Australia, the rapid shift from dial up to broadband has allowed affordable, continuous, and fast Internet access to homes with young people who use and enjoy current technological innovations for leisure purposes. A comprehensive literature review is provided identifying key issues related to the high-speed Internet access; interactive leisure services and youth leisure consumption and quality of life. The paper develops a model framed in an experiential consumption approach and a set of propositions of youth online leisure and quality of life suitable for empirical estimation. The paper concludes with a discussion of implications and future research directions.