The monotony of modern mechanical life causes tension to the modern man. This is especially so in the case of the urban residents. The rural occupations are leisurely and do not demand the constant attention and time as the works of a city dweller do. Despite the fast means of communication and transport, life is still a tiring one for the modern man.
C.E.M. Joad has said rightly in his Essay on Civilization that a man who is engaged all the time in earning his bread will have no time to indulge himself in fine arts or, in other words, he will become more and more civilised.
The Greeks, knew uses of leisure. They provided healthy and recreative exercises to the masses. Similarly, the modern man too can become better and greater by taking to boating, skating or wrestling instead of drinking, idle gossip and romantic nonsense.
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Leisure, therefore, becomes an inevitable need of the modern man. Most men and women devote most of their time during the day to their employer. Some of them return at dusk and take up part-time occupations to add to their income. For such people, nights do not offer much comfort or rest and days become nightmares in course of time. So leisure-time occupations become necessary to them.
The modern man should certainly spend a part of his time in viewing the television, in going for an evening walk, in visiting places for a change or any other pastime to suit his temperament and fancy. The youth clubs, the golf links, the tennis lawns and the public libraries speak volumes in favour of the leisure consciousness of the people.
No doubt, there are a number of labour saving devices in the modern world like the pressure cooker, grinder, lawn mower, the washing machine and so on to help one in one’s household chores. A housewife dispenses with the services of charmaid, the washerman, the gardener, etc. because she has the gadgets to do these chores.
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Consequently, all these works are done by herself leading to demand more of her spare time. Many of us are engaged in doing specialised jobs. There is no sense of achievement, no sense of wholeness in our lives. One can usefully spend one’s leisure time in reading, music, drama and athletics thus developing our personality, and achieve an all round satisfaction.