ABSTRACT
Our contemporary society – at least explicitly in more economically developed contexts in urban spaces – is becoming a leisure society. Compared to our predecessors, we are more restless. We get bored easily. We show little interest in seriousness. Serious things scare us. Nowadays, people tend to watch less television news than they do quizzes or soap operas or reality shows. Television news channels, which traditionally broadcast serious materials, are turning their studios into theatres of ‘infotainment’ (Brants 1998). Educators are encouraged to apply interactive methods to entertain students and to keep them engaged in the classroom. Individuals seem to become afraid of being on their own. On the train, on the bus or on foot, people are becoming more accustomed to having their earphones on, listening to music or playing with their smart phones. City councils arrange more festivals and public shows to entertain their citizens. Thanks to the online environment (for example, social media, email and blogs) and multi-application smart phones, more entertaining contents, such as jokes, amusing video clips and photographs and artistic tastes, are shared amongst people.
