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LITERATURE REVIEW

Leisure time, is a period of time spent out of work and essential domestic activity. It is also the period of recreational and discretionary time before or after compulsory activities such as eating and sleeping, going to work or running a business, attending school and doing homework, household chores, and day-to-day stress. The distinction between leisure and compulsory activities is loosely applied, i.e. people sometimes do work-oriented tasks for pleasure as well as for long-term utility. Leisure studies is the academic discipline concerned with the study and analysis of leisure. If life seems more rushed than ever, you might be surprised to learn that Americans don't have less leisure time. We actually have more leisure time, and quite a bit more. What counts as leisure is up for argument, but under every definition the numbers have gone up. We get about 45 minutes a day of extra leisure. Then why does it feel like we have so much less? It might be because we waste half of all our leisure time watching television. The average American adult devotes 2.5 hours a day to this hobby. According to a research done, only 38% of Americans entertain friends or family at home at least once a year. What were the other 62% of us doing? Getting a free meal, I suppose.

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HISTORY OF LEISURE TIME

When you stop to think about it, humankind has always enjoyed some type of leisure, the history of leisure goes back a very long way. The Romans had the Coliseum, where they watched chariot races and other entertainment. The Greeks had amphitheaters where they viewed drama and comedy, and of course they invented the Olympics, one of the greatest entertainment sport spectacles on earth. The list goes on. Even the Bible discusses singing, dancing, music, and other forms of acceptable recreation, so even the most ancient civilizations enjoyed entertainment and recreation of some sort. The Middle Ages Life for most people in the Middle Ages was dark and difficult. More emphasis was put on work, and there was little time for leisure. However, jousting tournaments, hunting tournaments, and the earliest forms of chess, checkers, and other games developed during this time. The people worked hard, the Church forbade many forms of entertainment, but there were still leisure pastimes to help develop the growing history of leisure and recreation. The Industrial Revolution This history of leisure and recreation goes far back in time, but leisure and recreation really took off when the Industrial Revolution hit Great Britain in the 1700s. The Industrial Revolution revolutionized work in the modern world, and helped create the modern factory environment. Machines mechanized the manufacture of fabric and fibers, and this ultimately led to more leisure time for the workers. They worked long

hours in the factories, but they also had time off, and most employers gave at least some holidays off. Thus, people who had labored from dawn to dusk on farms in rural England, moved to the big city, got jobs in factories, and had leisure time away from their jobs. The Industrial Revolution helped create the notion of leisure time, and it helped create a different view of work and leisure. The 20th Century If the Industrial Revolution helped create the history of leisure and recreation, the 20th century helped cement it. Workers demanded shorter working hours, paid vacations and holidays, and weekends off, leading to even more leisure time for the world's workforce. Today, work and leisure are still strictly separated, but leisure time and recreation are some of the most important aspect of modern life, showing how the history of leisure and recreation has altered throughout time, and become increasingly popular as people gain more freedom from work and toil. Tribal Warfare It's interesting to note that the wide separation between work and leisure in our modern society is something that wasn't necessary in early, tribal cultures. Early man (and woman), worked when it was necessary to find food or to create items they needed to live, but they did not work continually, they interspersed work with pleasure or leisure, something our society not longer enjoys. For example, in Native American societies, boys "played" at war and warfare, but this play taught them how to use a bow and arrow, useful for hunting as well as defending the tribe. Work became play, while today, the two terms are decidedly distinct.

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ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF LEISURE TIME

All work and no play, makes Jack a dull boy something we were taught in kindergarten, but something we forgot along the way. Although we are all aware of the need and benefits of leisure, its not until something seriously goes wrong with our health or relationships that we start thinking about it. The importance of leisure has been so vividly understood, that companies and organizations are slowly beginning to regulate overtime and over-working, and are encouraging employees to take time off during weekends and holidays. They no longer encourage late-nights, but instead prefer their employees to check-in and check-out at the correct timings and work more productively during office hours. So, what has caused this change? To understand that, lets look at some of the major benefits of leisure. First benefits is healthier and longer life. The health benefits of leisure are well-known. People use their leisure time to engage in activities that include both exercises as well as other stress-relieving recreational activities. Exercises provide a lot of health benefits such as cardiovascular benefits, reducing cholesterol and hypertension, improving spinal and neurological problems, increasing bone mass and muscles, increasing lung capacity, and improving overall wellness. Entertainment activities also has its share of benefits by relieving stress, reducing tension, soothing mind and body, bringing about positive changes in attitude, and improving social communication and interaction. These psychological changes also impact physical health in a positive manner. Second, economic benefits. If you need to exercise or relax, you need the time, space, and opportunity to do so. The

places of recreation are unlimited these days. It is a complete industry in itself like the hospitality industry. Leisure and fun-time activities are a big-time business today. Whether it is the play station and play areas at the malls and cinemas, or the resorts where you just spend your weekend, all are intended to ensure you enjoy and relax yourself. And while you relax there are others working around to ensure you get the complete benefit of a holiday. And all this simply means that there is a whole new world of job and business opportunities. Travel and tourism is believed to generate more money flow and income within and between countries. It generates more income than even the agriculture and automobile industries. Third, better society. Leisure has lots of social benefits that are not easily noticed or widely advertised, but make a significant difference to the society. A work-oriented society will not find many opportunities for the growth of art, culture, and sports. Leisure is what provides the opportunities for the growth of these activities. Recreational activities also encourage tourism and that in turn promotes awareness of culture and history. Fourth, strengthens family bonds. Leisure not only promotes the creation of a better society but also promotes the bonds of family ties. Setting aside time for recreation ensures that you spend more time with family, especially the special people in the family like the elderly and little children. Spending time with family and friends strengthens relationships and thereby strengthens the society as a whole. This integration brings about social cohesion and adds more meaning to life. And lastly, protects environment. Although in an indirect manner, leisure also contributes to the protection of the environment. The need to create recreational places compels people to look into maintaining a clean and green environment. This leads to the maintenance and protection of the environment from harmful elements. Be it our local park or the forest resorts that we enjoyed our holidays in, all these in their own little way contribute toward a greener environment. Thus, leisure is essential not only to ensure a healthy body, an active mind, and strong relationships; but in its own way, it also contributes to a better economy and a better environment. However, it is quite evident that there are many disadvantages of leisure time especially those who stay at home all the time. In fact, watching too much TV and playing video games can have different forms of mental as well as physical damages. For instance, according to most health experts watching too much TV can have different kinds of physical damages such as weakening the eye sight. Recent studies have revealed that children who watch TV more than three hours a day can seriously suffer from sight loss that leads to wearing glasses or contact lenses when they get older. Moreover, according to most fitness experts children need an hour of physical activity daily and neglecting it could seriously lead to physical problems as they get older. They become increasingly and unnaturally fat and look unwantedly overweight. Nevertheless, watching too much TV and playing video games can also lead to mental damages, especially on our children. In fact, most psychologists believe that children who play such video games are most likely to develop violent and aggressive behaviour when they get older. Actually, the exposure to such brutal and bloody scenes can have a massive negative impact on the child character as it is shaping during adolescence and lead to an aggressive adult in the future. Furthermore, many psychological studies confirm that depriving children from the real world and conveniently imprisoning them at home to watch TV and play video games all the time can make them intolerant and

indifferent individuals in the years to come. In fact, many psychologists argue that the main reason that individuals nowadays feel so isolated from one another and have little care, compassion or even tolerance for each other is that they have been raised in families were communication was limited and children never developed social and mutual understanding. Therefore, it is far more than evident that watching too much TV, playing video games and staying at home all the time should never be considered as a suitable free time activity for our children

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OBJECTIVE OF STUDY
To study the way in which student in Kolej Poly-Tech Mara Bangi used their time and in which leisure activities they participated, in order to get a picture of the way in which they lived what student in Kolej Poly-Tech Mara Bangi do during their leisure time

COORECTION
Distinction may also arise between free time and leisure. For example, criticism of consumer capitalism by the Situationist International maintains that free time is illusory and rarely free and instead, economic and social forces appropriate it from the individual and sell it back to him as a commodity in the form of leisure

Time for leisure varies from one society to the next, although anthropologists have found that hunter-gatherers tend to have significantly more leisure time than people in more complex societies. As a result, band societies such as the Shoshone of the Great Basin came across as extraordinarily lazy to European colonialists.
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Capitalist societies often view active leisure activities positively, because active leisure activities require the purchase of equipment and services, which stimulates the economy. Capitalist societies often accord greater status to members who have more wealth. One of the ways that wealthy people can choose to spend their money is by having additional leisure time. Workaholics are those who work compulsively at the expense of other activities. They prefer to work rather than spend time socializing and engaging in other leisure activities. Many see this as a necessary sacrifice to attain high-ranking corporate positions. Increasing attention, however, is being paid to the effects of such imbalance upon the worker and the family

On the other hand, it is quite obvious that there are many advantages in playing sports and spending time with friends outside. In fact, playing sports can have a lot of mental as well as physical benefits. According to most medical specialists children who do sports regularly have a higher chance of staying fit and healthy when they grow older. In fact, playing sports at such a young age helps these children develop the necessary stamina and physical fitness that is needed in later years when they reach adolescence and then adulthood. Moreover, spending time out of home doing sports can really help children stay healthy as they get fresh air and good exercise daily. Nevertheless, playing sports out of home and spending time with freinds in particular can have many mental benefits as well. As a matter of fact, many psychologists argue that spending time with friends help children socialize better with tehir peers. In fact, they learn how to be initiative and take important decisions when dealing with their peers. They learn how to be constructive citizens in the future and prove useful for their family first and their then their society. They learn about community values and become tolerant individuals who have respect for their fellowmen. They avoid prejudice and discrimination since at a very young age they have learnt to settle their differences with their peers and look beyond the racial and religious labels that might separate them from one another. They learn to take responsibility for their actions instead of running away from their real world responsibilities. In short, playing sports, particularly team sports and spending time with friends out of the domain of one's house outside in the real world can bring about such remarkeable benefits. As a result, it seems quite clear that playing sports and spending time with friends at home can have many physical as well as mental benefits for our dear children. Finally, it can now be concluded that watching too much TV, playing video games and staying at home all the time should not be considered as a suitable leisure time activity. Instead, playing sports and spending time with friends out of home can be regarded as a better alternative since it encourages children to take active participation and be involved and well engaged in real life activities. Having said that, it seems quite evident that promoting such activities and allowing children to freely exercise their God given potentials in being involved in the real life could have much more benefits from them in the future and the years to come