A Study on the Effect of Internet Usage on Leisure Activities

This research aims to study how the time and pattern of leisure and cultural activities is affected by Internet use in youth aged 15-30 years old. The study took advantage of the Youth National Organization’s 2005 data collection on leisure activities which used a national sample of 13000 youths aged between 15 to 30 across the country. The findings show that Internet users have more time for leisure and cultural activities than non-Internet users (31 hours versus 28 hours per week). Other results indicate that the communicative function of the Internet has raised the quality and quantity of relationships of Internet users. The impacts of Internet usage on media consumption has no simple pattern; in regards to television viewing it has a replacement effect, while a positive impact on reading as a leisure activity. It was found that the Internet has increased the time for individual and social activities via expanding the friendship networks of Internet users.