Part 3 Discussion Questions
How do you think that the way people spend their leisure time has changed in the last fifty years in your country?
To my mind, the way that people spend their leisure time has changed completely. How can I put this? I suppose that people used to play more sport or go for more walks or even play board-games and cards more often than they do now.
I guess that most forms of entertainment nowadays are based on modern forms of technology. I mean computer or video games are now very popular and people now enjoy watching their favourite shows online or just surfing the web.
Do you think that people live a better, more comfortable life than in the past?
Yes. I think this is definitely true. I mean I’m not sure about how much better it is, but it is certainly more comfortable. I mean modern buildings can be heated and air-conditioned. It’s easier to buy a broad variety of food in supermarkets because of modern forms of transportation. I guess people also can think about how to spend their holiday time whereas in the past they would just have to work all the time.
In fifty years time, do you think things will change much or will we be doing the same activities as now in our spare time?
If you think about it, some forms of entertainment are timeless really. I mean people will always go out and play baseball or football or go dancing. That really is never going to change.
In regard to future forms of entertainment: Hmmn. Let me think. Yeah, I guess that computer games are going to become more and more realistic, so there’ll be much more fun. Who knows too? Maybe we will all be racing our flying cars together in the future. It really is difficult to know.
What effects on society do you think any change in the retirement age might have?
In my view, it really depends on whether we lower or raise the retirement age. If it’s raised people would obviously work longer. Perhaps we would benefit from the experience and leadership skills of older workers, but perhaps as a result there would be less opportunities for young people.
In contrast then, I think a lot of companies might suffer because they’d lose their experienced workers although there’d obviously be more chances for young people to work their way up the career ladder more swiftly.
Should people be allowed to work as much overtime as they like?
From my perspective, this would really create a difficult situation. I think that it could really put pressure on everyone to do overtime. I mean the workplace is competitive enough. I think we have to have laws that restrict the number of overtime hours. I mean sometimes people push themselves too much and this could have very bad results. For example if a delivery driver put in too much overtime, he could fall asleep behind the wheel.
What are the best ways for children to spend their leisure time?
You know, kids nowadays don’t get out and get enough exercise. I think that in their leisure time they should play sport because it’s good for their health and fitness and also teaches them how to work together with others in a team.
I think that a lot of kids are really put under a lot of pressure to get high marks. Sometimes it seems like their whole life is mapped out for them already by their parents. They have to enjoy themselves.
You know, our childhood is a magical time and also more seriously it really shapes our personalities and development. It’s important that we are not burdened too much in this period of our lives.
Do people work harder than they used to in the past? Do people have more or less time off these days?
In general, I think people don’t have to work as hard as in the past because there are more laws that make sure that we are not taken advantage of by our bosses and unfairly made to work ridiculously long hours.
I think that it’s fair to say that people have a lot more time off nowadays. I mean we have a lot of national holidays now where people are entitled to time off. In the past people had to work a lot harder and often didn’t have any holidays at all.
Are jobs more stressful nowadays? What can we do to reduce stress?
I believe that there are a lot more jobs that are more mentally taxing. I mean we live in more competitive times in many ways and our jobs are certainly more complex for the most part. I think a lot of us have to constantly work to deadlines and sometimes our pay is performance related or we work on a commission basis.
I think the main way to manage our stress is to make sure we use our free time to exercise. I think that living a healthy and balanced lifestyle is the key to not letting the pressures of work worry us too much.
