No signal here: self-development and optimal experience from digital-free tourism

The present research aims to establish a conceptual understanding of the benefits tourists may gain from digital-free tourism. The concept of digital-free tourism was proposed to represent situations characterised by the absence of or severely limited access to information and communication technology. There has been a contemporary concern over the sustained use of the internet and digital technologies, in terms of the side-effects on individuals' physical, psychological and social conditions and the possible deterioration of tourist experience. Therefore, the assumption of the potential of reduced technology use in tourism to improve tourist well-being has been claimed. Four interrelated studies were conducted to investigate the topic both as a social phenomenon and a niche tourism market. The rewarding outcomes of digital-free tourism were examined by addressing three specific questions. The first research question "is digital-free tourism rising in prominence?" was answered by the first study – media representation of digital-free tourism: a critical discourse analysis included in Chapter 2 of this thesis. Archival data, that is online media documents focusing on the broad topic of digital detoxing on holiday, was analysed at three levels, including linguistic characteristics, temporal diachronic interpretation and socio-cultural explanation. Media discourses around digital-free tourism were found to be evolving. Specifically, vacations and tourism are discoursed as ideal situations for managing technology use behaviours. The value of digital-free tourism over time has moved from relieving stress to life flourishing. Multiple digital-free tourism providers now offer diverse experiences to a growing broad market. The second research question "what are the positive experiences and impacts of digital-free tourism?" was answered by conducting the second study – exploration of benefits from digital-free tourism: a grounded theory approach in Chapter 3. Sixty five carefully selected key informants with expert knowledge or personal experience of digital-free tourism were asked to report their experience, observations and perspectives about reduced technology use on holiday. Based on the patterns in the data, a theoretical model was developed to display the positive changes of tourists' psychological, behavioural and life conditions through the process of digital-free tourism. The third research question "in what ways does digital-free vacation experience contribute to people's well-being?" was addressed in two further in-depth studies. These studies were developed in Chapters 4 and 5. The third study in Chapter 4 - self-development in digital-free tourism: building character strengths through coping with challenging investigated the correlations between digital-free tourism and the development of character strengths and virtues which build personal well-being. Key-informants' statements obtained in the previous study were re-coded by employing a catalogue of twenty four character strengths in positive psychology as a priori coding scheme. In the results, twenty three character strengths were found to be related to digital-free tourism. They were perceived to be the strengths that were utilised to cope with issues faced in the digital-free contexts. A tiered model was built to outline the core, secondary and peripheral strengths in digital-free tourism. The fourth study in Chapter 5 - optimal experience: the role of reduced smartphone use in increasing perception of restorative environments and producing flow attempted to develop measures for the levels of perceived restorative quality of digital-free tourism environments and the flow tourists experienced when technology use was reduced; as well as to examine the nexus among critical variables by testing a Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Model (PLS-SEM). The hypothesised positive correlation between restorative environment and flow was confirmed. Smartphone dependence was found to be effective in reducing the level of flow and moderating the relationship between restorative environment and flow. A VI trend of high dependence on smartphone weakening tourists' ability to perceive restorative digital-free environment was also revealed by this empirical study. Consequently, the value and significance of positive changes of tourists' psychological, social, behavioural and life conditions arising from disconnection are suggested in these findings about the understudied concept of digital-free tourism. Such knowledge can make important theoretical contributions to the understanding of the intricate relationship between technology and tourism, the rewarding outcomes of vacation time involving reduced technology engagement, and the well-being from positive tourist experience. Digital-free tourism can provide individuals opportunities to experience a new way of being in this digital era, reflect on and regulate the technology use behaviours of themselves and their families, as well as increase well-being through selecting unplugging vacations. The present research also introduced digital-free tourism as a new style of tourism product and service that can be an effective strategy for remote regions to develop innovative forms of tourism

Gear Acquisition Syndrome

"Gear Acquisition Syndrome, also known as GAS, is commonly understood as the musicians’ unrelenting urge to buy and own instruments and equipment as an anticipated catalyst of creative energy and bringer of happiness. For many musicians, it involves the unavoidable compulsion to spend money one does not have on gear perhaps not even needed. The urge is directed by the belief that acquiring another instrument will make one a better player. This book pioneers research into the complex phenomenon named GAS from a variety of disciplines, including popular music studies and music technology, cultural and leisure studies, consumption research, sociology, psychology and psychiatry. The newly created theoretical framework and empirical studies of online communities and offline music stores allow the study to consider musical, social and personal motives, which influence the way musicians think about and deal with equipment. As is shown, GAS encompasses a variety of practices and psychological processes. In an often life-long endeavour, upgrading the rig is accompanied by musical learning processes in popular music.

Exploring hedonistic consumption from an identity perspective: an interpretative study

This paper is the fifth in a series of six written as part of an investigation of consumer beliefs and attitudes towards luxuries. Numerous studies concerned with luxury consumption look at what luxury is and enables (Berry, 1994; Dubois and Laurent, 1996; Dubois et al., 2001; Lageat et al., 2003; Phau and Prendergast, 2001; Vigneron and Johnson, 1999). This document is aimed at filling a gap in knowledge by investigating how consumers create the meanings they associate with luxury and how consuming luxury influences their identity

Contingent valuation and money attitudes

The Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) is one of the most frequently applied techniques to assess and monetise the benefits of environmental improvements. This survey-based method aims to elicit individuals willingness to pay (WTP) for enhanced environmental quality by means of hypothetical payment questions. Analysts interpret stated WTP as the monetary equivalent of the utility gain an individual expects to experience due to a specific environmental improvement. In spite of its frequent use, the validity of WTP statements is recurrently questioned and analysts have pointed to several sources of bias, such as a poor CVM survey design or certain characteristics of the respondents. This dissertation focuses on respondent characteristics which hitherto have not been examined, namely individuals attitudes towards spending money in general. The disposition of a person to spend money is expected to systematically affect and possibly bias stated WTP. While money attitudes have been extensively studied in psychological research, they have never been considered to be of influence in the context of environmental valuation. Given this lack of research, this dissertation investigates, theoretically and empirically, the role of money attitudes in CVM surveys.Die Contingent Valuation Methode (CVM) findet häufig bei der Erfassung und Monetarisierung des Nutzens von Umweltverbesserungen Anwendung. Diese Umfrage-gestützte Methode zielt darauf ab, individuelle Zahlungsbereitschaften für Umweltverbesserungen mittels hypothetischer Fragen hinsichtlich der Bereitschaft einzelner Haushalte, einen finanziellen Beitrag zu einem bestimmten Umweltgut zu leisten, zu ermitteln. Die geäußerte Zahlungsbereitschaft wird als monetärer Ausdruck der Nutzenverbesserung, die ein Haushalt durch eine bestimmte Umweltverbesserung erfahren würde, interpretiert. Trotz der häufigen Anwendung von CVM Umfragen wird die Validität von geäußerten Zahlungsbereitschaften regelmäßig in Frage gestellt und auf Verzerrungseffekte hingewiesen. Eine Verzerrung des Umfrageergebnisses kann beispielsweise auf ein mangelhaftes Umfragedesign oder bestimmte Einstellungen und Verhaltensweisen der Befragten zurückgeführt werden. Diese Dissertation untersucht eine Eigenschaft von Befragten, die bisher keine Beachtung in der CVM-Forschung gefunden hat: die individuelle Einstellung zum Geldausgeben im Allgemeinen. Es wird vermutet, dass die generelle Bereitschaft, Geld auszugeben die geäußerte Zahlungsbereitschaft systematisch beeinflusst und möglicherweise verzerrt. Während die Analyse von Einstellungen zu Geld in der psychologischen Forschung weit verbreitet ist, hat diese psychologische Variable im Bereich der Umweltbewertung bisher keine Beachtung gefunden. Angesichts dieser Forschungslücke wird die Rolle von Einstellungen zu Geld in CVM Studien theoretisch und empirisch untersucht

Hooked on the Internet: the prevalence, risk, theory and presenting problem of Internet addiction

As the Internet becomes increasingly ubiquitous and mobile, Internet addiction appears as a potential mental health problem in adolescents and students. From the reported negative consequences, it appears Internet addiction can have a variety of detrimental outcomes for young people that may require professional intervention. The unique contribution to knowledge of this research is (i) the assessment of the interplay between certain personality traits and the usage of specific Internet applications in contributing to an elevated risk of Internet addiction in two independent samples of 3,105 adolescents in the Netherlands and 2,257 university students in the UK, (ii) the development and testing of the concise Internet addiction components model using the quantitative data obtained, and (iii) the phenomenological exploration of the presenting problem of Internet addiction from the perspective of 20 psychotherapists from Europe, the USA, and Canada. A mixed methods approach was used in the form of psychometric measurement and qualitative interviews. Data were analysed using logistic regression, confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modelling, and interpretative phenomenological analysis

Quality time: an exploration of subjective temporality

A jointly constructed social and personal endeavor, the notion of time offers a rich source of relatively untapped sociological insight. As the hallmark of American society's recent evolution, the context of intensified personal busyness and social acceleration asserts the relevance of temporal consideration. A primary conclusion from the review of relevant literature finds the need for research of temporality through the lens of personal, qualitative experience in supplement to commonly popular quantitative forms. Following the suggestion of a parallel shift between culturally oriented and subjectively experienced time, the equation of time to money bears particular interest as a powerful analogy underlying the notion of a quantified time, a concept providing a distilled form of the problem statement. The conceptual lens of "quality time" offers the supplemental, yet contrasting lens which provides the focus of these ideas into the development of this qualitative study. Interviews conducted with students and professors aimed to invite the personal expressions of quality time as a facet of personal reconciliation with time. Data from fifteen interviews with students and professors intended to structure a template of comparison between generations, with additional relevance for the realm of higher education. Although the outcome of the data encouraged divergent avenues of analysis, the resultant discussion seeks to explore promising angles for the subjective experience of time, as counterpart to its social construction, and as a revealing field of sociological inquiry

Television Scales

How to reckon with the staggering volume of television materials, past and present? And how to comprehend all the potential, complex scales at which to grapple with television, from its tiniest units of audiovisual content to its most massive industrial coordinates and beyond? In Television Scales, Nick Salvato demonstrates how the problem of scale in the field of television may be turned into a resource and a method for a television studies that would pay better attention to messy medial complexities, peripatetic critical practices, and vulgar psychogeographies. Modeling his investigative practice on the meta-critical writing of social anthropologist Marilyn Strathern in Partial Connections and elsewhere, Salvato composes surprising, partial constellations of television’s elements. In the process, his consideration ranges from classic television sitcoms like I Love Lucy to contemporary reality series such as The Biggest Loser, Iron Chef, and House Hunters International. He simultaneously pores over a number of key television phenomena, including technological mystification, performers’ charismatic displays, binge viewing, and devoted fandom. An experiment in style and form, Television Scales maps, weighs, and rules television, while also undoing these very strategies for evaluating the medium

Generation Z and Attending Traditional Spectator Sports: A Study of Contemporary Sport Consumer Behaviour

Understanding consumer behaviour and attracting new generations of consumers are important aspects of operating a successful sport organization (Teed et al., 2008). However, limited academic attention has been given to the most recently emergent generation: Generation Z (Gen Z). Moreover, it has been shown that the interest level in traditional spectator sports is waning amongst younger consumers (Richelieu & Pons, 2005; 2009) and, most recently, Gen Z (Kuchefski, 2018; Whistle, 2018). The purpose of this research was therefore to better understand the sport consumption behaviours of this Gen Z by examining both the motivators and inhibitors to their nominal spectator sport consumption. Participants (n=17) were recruited physically in Hamilton, Ontario and virtually through social media platforms Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Using a semi-structured format, a total of three synchronous online focus group interviews were conducted with individuals from Gen Z. It was clear from a thorough analysis of the data that participants viewed the consumption of traditional spectator sports analogously with attending live games. Thus, the data, its themes, and its implications were inherently linked to attending traditional spectator sports. Although there were important intragroup differences found, several important motivators and inhibitors were present. Socialization, status, and experimental behaviours all presented as significant motives for Gen Z to attend traditional spectator sports. Alternatively, issues with affordability and a shared unrest proved to be important inhibitors to nominal spectator sport consumption. Directions for future research and recommendations are presented and discussed

A Poetics of Neurosis: Narratives of Normalcy and Disorder in Cultural and Literary Texts

While psychiatry and the neurosciences have dismissed the concept of neurosis as too vague for medical purposes, in recent years literary studies have adopted the term by virtue of its abstractness. This volume investigates the verbalization of neurosis in literary and cultural texts. As opposed to the medical diagnostics of neurosis in the individual, the contributions focus on the poetics of neurosis. They indicate how neuroses are still routinely romanticized or vilified, bent to suit aesthetic and narrative choices, and transfigured to illustrate unresolved cultural tensions