Advancing understanding of digital well-being at the intersection of technology and leisure

Abstract

As new technologies emerge and are inserted within peoples’ lives each day, scholarly examination of the intersections between these innovations and leisure is increasingly vital. Researchers and their methods must continue to advance, in order to better anticipate and inform theory, industry, and society. This closing article of the Journal of Leisure Research special issue on technology, innovation, and leisure (TIL) provides a brief targeted bibliometric review of recent Web of Science (WoS) indexed research related to TIL, identifying research co-occurrence trends for 111 recent articles. These trends, along with commonalities within keyword co-occurrence clusters, and contributions from the seven special issue articles, informed ten proposed areas of TIL research priority that will often interact and overlap: Technology enhanced travel behavior; Psychology of social networks/media; Game-based educational innovation; Aging and digital leisure; Health and well-being technological design; Gender considerations; ICT attitudes, adoption, and literacy; Youth and adolescent technology and leisure; Social aspects of technology and leisure in urban settings; and Digital leisure DEI. Specific research needs within these ten areas are identified, based on the insights and recommendations of the special issue contributors.

Keywords:

• Web of Science (WoS)
• keyword co-occurrence trends
• technology, innovation, and leisure
• targeted bibliometric review
• VOS viewer

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank people who supported this special issue, especially the Journal of Leisure Research’s editorial team including the Editor-in-Chief Dr. Kindal Shores, former Editor-in-Chief Dr. Paul Heintzman, the Senior Associate Editors, and Associate Editors who have provided valuable feedback on our initial special issue idea. We also want to thank the authors who contributed to this special issue. And we are especially grateful for the reviewers who offered their insights and helped the rigorous review process.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Chile’s National Research and Development Agency (ANID) under ANID’s Regional Program R17A10002, the CIEP R20F0002 project, and the CHIC-ANID PIA/BASAL PFB210018, as well as Kent State University (USA).