Work And Leisure Lecture 2

James Sunderland 2007

Participation in Occupation 1BT230001

Lecture Four: Technology, Work and Leisure


Introduction

• Traditional notions of work, labour and play/leisure• Technology, labour, work, culture and the exponential

nature of change• Challenges to the boundaries of work and leisure• The benefits and challenges of wireless connection and

working in ‘cyber space’ (information, environment and proximity)

• Technology leading culture (norms and etiquette)• Implications for OT practice• Nathan’s example


Labour

….is the activity which corresponds to the biological process of the human body, whose spontaneous growth, metabolism, and eventual decay are bound to the vital necessities produced and fed into the life process by labour. The human condition of labour is life itself. (Arendt, 1958, p.7)


Work:

Activity producing an enduring object. Work requires self-investment, skill, craft and personal judgment. Work is purposeful and meaningful. Work is distinct from labour and must be discovered independently from one’s job.

T.F.Green (1968)


“Throughout the ages it has been held that leisure is the basis of culture. This view can be found in the Old Testament and in Plato, in Burk, Marx, Veblen, and in T.S. Eliot. Whether they were glad for it or sad, people seem to have always taken it for granted that in order to have culture one must first have leisure. Applicable to society as well as to individuals, this rule was put concisely by Dr Johnson as follows: “All intellectual improvement arises from leisure; all leisure arise from one working for another.” (Kuic, V. 1992, p.436)


So…What is the link between Technology, Work, Labour and

Leisure?


Technological development ‘in the western world’


(Seidensticker, B. 2006. p.111)


Maslow's Hierarchy of NeedsAbraham Maslow, Motivation and Personality, 2nd ed., Harper & Row, 1970


(Seidensticker, B. 2006. p.111)


Why do people join online communities?

Peter Kollock (1999)

• Anticipated reciprocity

• Increased Recognition

• Sense of Efficacy

• Sense of Community


How has information technology effected how we participate in

work and leisure?


Technology and the work role/identity

Some would say technology has provided us with more efficiency. We can get through larger amounts of work. Numerous tasks have been automated and information has become more accessible. However to say this is to simplify the effects of technology. As we have discussed in previous lectures the introduction of technology into an environment always produces effects, some that are not foreseen.


Questions

• A decrease in the use but not value of the ‘hand crafted’. The automation of our roles and the reduction of reliance on skill

• Reduction in the human connection. Simplification or automation of communications.

• Change and adaptation to role

• Lack of security


Clarity of boundaries between work and leisure

Digital technology, particularly the wireless variety, can now take us anywhere we want to go. It is possible to sit in a tramping hut in the Southern Alps and still essentially have the same access to information we would have if we were sitting in front of our computer at work. There is an argument that this has provided us with greater freedom, and in many respects it has however a number of points need to be considered regarding the flexibility and information access offered by digital technologies. Is this flexibility beneficial to our work and play?


Questions?

• To what extent are we knowledge workers in our jobs and leisure

• Can technology replicate the degree of human contact we require in our jobs and hobbies

• How important is the physical environment/space we work and play in?

• Do we always go to technology or does it come to us?

• Where do the boundaries exist between work and leisure time?


Technology leading culture

The prevalence of wireless gadgets and networks is changing how people interact with one another. Social plans are made later in the day; conversations happen more frequently but with more brevity, and expectations evolve.


Leisure the role of digital technology

• Technology as a supplement to life• Access to people with similar interest online• Sources of information are multiple. We can

investigate and explore our interests with more ease

• Games and technology verse reasons for engagement and enjoyment. Is technology necessary in the process.

• Technology and dysfunction. 2nd lives overtaking 1st lives


How does this relate to OT• Activity as core, manipulation of contexts• Choosing our tools• Questioning process• Working in systems• Being prepared to adapt and change• Asking the right questions of our clients,

funders, employers, families• Huge benefits exist but there are risks• Can digital tech replace or replicate all real

world process, or is a useful addition?


Arendt, H. (1958). The human condition. Chicago: Chicago University Press.

Green, T. F. (1968). Work, leisure and the American schools. New York: Random House.

Work, Leisure and Culture Vukan Kuic. The review of politics, Vol. 43, No. 3 (Jul., 1981), pp. 436-465

Seidensticker, B. (2006). Future hype: the myths of technology change. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler

Publishers, Inc


The next couple of weeks

• This weeks tutorials

• Next weeks tutorials

• Adaptive Technology week (reading)

• Your assignments

Work And Leisure Lecture 2

Technology

information technology

leisure digital technology

boundaries of work

introduction of technology

effects of technology

playleisure technology

technology necessary

work roleidentity