Technology moves with it. Philosophies change with it. Fashion succumbs to it. And if you come to think about it, the way of spending leisure time is also subject to time. By putting parents' free time activities beside their children's, one can easily see that nature has been tossed for cyberspace, the human voice has been replaced by emoticons and human contact has been discarded for anything non-thought provoking.
Green grasses, scouting, and campfire songs have mutated into the fantasy worlds of computer games, chatting and MP3 downloads. Stories and dramas over the radio have taken a backseat to the huge impact of television, always coming up with new programs to keep viewers glued to the set. The virtual has stepped in to rival rather well with reality. Yet it's not all that pessimistic as it might sound. Some things have stayed surprisingly similar.
Although we don't dance under a disco ball to the Bee Gees, we do dance in flashing lights to some odd-named DJ. Once it was standing in line all day to one store, now replaced with spending all day browsing the huge local mall. Pokémon took the place of Bolek and Lolek, amusement parks seem more fun than a game of marbles in the street and playing a sport to keep fit isn't enough, now you need eternal membership to a fitness club to be considered to be leading a healthy lifestyle. At the core, the needs humans have and that drive them to spend their leisure time in one way or another, haven't changed much over the years, but it can be seen that on the surface these changes in the style of relaxing can range from mere cosmetic alterations to major plastic surgery makeovers. It is an interesting view on something so overlooked.
Now I can see why my mother can't understand why mowing down enemy soldiers on the computer is so much fun; she would like me to maybe read a book instead.