Internet Consumption in Youth Leisure Styles in Tehran

This article aims to study how off-line and on-line leisure activities interact in different leisure styles and what factors affect their interaction. Drawing upon 32 interviews with internet users (18 to 28 years old) in Tehran, three different leisure styles have been identified: namely "Transition", "Knowledge-based" and "classbased" leisure styles. The study reveals that in all leisure styles, user's online leisure style usually follows the same pattern of their off-line leisure. It further shows that internet use for leisure purposes, in people with "Transition" leisure-style has increased leisure time qualitatively and quantitatively through creating new leisure activities like chatting, while in youth with "knowledge-based" leisure style has replaced their cultural leisure activities without any impact on their leisure time and it has had no effect on leisure time and experiences of those with "class-based" leisure style.