3. RELATIONSHIPS OF ICT TO LEISURE
In this section, we explore the relationships of ICT to leisure activities in depth. First, we discuss
four kinds of ways by which ICT can affect leisure activities and travel, followed by 13
dimensions to leisure activities that are especially relevant to the issue of ICT impacts. Although
the four types of impacts and the 13 dimensions are presented in separate subsections (3.1 and
3.2, respectively), there is inevitably some forward and backward referencing between the two
parts. Table 3 will integrate them by presenting a 13x4 matrix summarizing the role of each
dimension with respect to each type of impact.

3.1 Four Types of Impacts of ICT on Leisure
It is possible to identify four types of effects that ICT may have on leisure activities and travel;
these are shown in Table 2.12 All four types have the result of increasing the individual’s choice
set, which can then be acted upon in several different ways. We discuss each of these types of
impacts in turn.

3.1.1 Replacement of Traditional Leisure Activity with ICT-based Counterpart
Most directly, ICT may present an alternative way of conducting a leisure activity, which will be
chosen if the net utility of the ICT-based form of the activity exceeds that of the other forms.
Clearly, to the extent that ICT-based forms are chosen over location-based forms of an activity,
travel is likely to be reduced.

Mature ICT technologies, like radio and television broadcasts, have been used for leisure purposes
for decades, sometimes serving as substitutes for physical attendance at a stadium, theatre,
or concert hall. In the 1960s, for example, it was suggested that television would replace theatre
movies as people would prefer the home-based alternative. Television watching has significantly
increased during the second half of the 20th century, and yet movie theatres have maintained or
increased their patronage. This situation provided an early warning that ICTs’ impacts on engagement
in activities and travel may not be simply that of substitution, and clearly, there are
many indications that complementarity is a viable option. This is all the more true as ongoing
cost reductions and miniaturization increase the number and portability of leisure-related technologies
(consider the progression from the Sony Walkman, to portable CD players, to multifunctional
mobile phones).
As has been suggested elsewhere with respect to ICT-based alternatives to work (Salomon and
Salomon, 1983) and shopping (Salomon and Koppelman, 1988), an important reason why
substitution does not always occur to the extent expected is that the ICT-based alternatives are
often not desirable substitutes to the individual decision-maker at all. To illustrate this point in
the context of leisure activities, let us further consider the example of watching a movie. Going
to a movie theatre constitutes a totally distinct experience from that of watching the same movie
at home, on one of various technologies that enable home viewing. If watching a particular
movie were the single attribute of this leisure activity, then the concept of substitution could
properly apply. However, screen size, popcorn, chained activities en-route to or from a theatre,
seeing people and being seen, sharing an experience with a crowd, and devotion of uninterrupted
time (provided cellular telephone calls or other simultaneous demands are eliminated), all make
the cinema a different activity than the home-based movie (Handy and Yantis, 1997). From a transportation perspective, the cardinal question is, to what extent will or can the use of
ICT change the behavior of individuals in time and space? To explore this issue, we have
mapped the range of several leisure activities on a two dimensional diagram, with time and space
ranging from dependence to independence, respectively. Thus, in Figure 1, the lower left
quadrant represents “old” activities, both time- and location-dependent, whereas the upper right
quadrant represents the activities that are independent of time and location (positions of activities
are only approximate).

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12 It is worth noting that this classification can apply to the effects of ICT on all activities, not just leisure, and to any number of technological improvements, not just ICT. For some technologies (e.g., microwave ovens), the timesavings-effect (category 3) may dominate the time-stealing effect (category 2), and in some cases the facilitationeffect (category 4) may be inconsequential. But for a technology such as the automobile, all four effects are quite relevant.