Blurring Lines: The Integration of Work and Leisure in the Digital Age


Alex Miltsov, Bishop's University

In the modern digitized workplace, the traditional boundaries between work and leisure are increasingly blurred. This study delves into the dynamics of how employees integrate personal online activities within their work environments. Central to this analysis is an exploration of the motivating factors behind such behaviours and the impact of evolving work structures – including flexible employment and task-based work – on the nature and extent of personal activities during work hours. The theoretical framework of this research draws from Autonomist perspectives on labour and digital technology (Berardi, 2009, 2010), situating personal activities at work within the broader context of political, technological, economic, and cultural transformations. It views personal online activities at work as both a product of lifes increasing digitization and a cognitive tool helping workers navigate fragmented work experiences. Specifically, this study focuses on the experiences of workers engaged in the cognitive labour sector. Conceptually linked to “knowledge work” and “information labour”, cognitive workers include accountants, lawyers, academics, designers and other types of typically white-collar occupations. While the notion of cognitive labour has been criticized for being too broad and imprecise (Martín-Cabrera, 2012), it is a useful concept as it captures effectively what unites many of these occupations across different sectors of the economy – the emphasis on cognitive skills in the production and manipulation of information. Employing a mixed-methods design, this research combines quantitative data from a representative sample of cognitive workers from Canada, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States, with qualitative insights from in-depth interviews. Regression analyses are used to analyze the interplay of gender, age, and different work-related factors with diverse forms of personal activities in the workplace. The findings reveal a gendered nature of personal online use in the workplace; men predominantly use digital technologies for entertainment, while women are more engaged in online activities related to shopping, banking, and household management. Interestingly, restrictive policies have a significant effect on the personal online activities associated with networking and communication but not on entertainment-oriented activities. Also, younger employees, as well as those who work on projects and experience job precarity, are more likely to engage in personal online activities during work time. This research makes several contributions. It shows how irregular working conditions influence the timing, methods, motives, and duration of personal activities among cognitive workers. Using a cross-national sample, the study illuminates the interplay between varying labour contexts and employee engagement in "non-productive" activities at work. Lastly, it provides insights into how the digitization of work and the rise of non-standard employment shapes contemporary perceptions of work-life balance. Overall, this research provides nuanced insights into the increasingly blurred lines between work and leisure in the digital age, enriching our understanding of contemporary workplace behaviours and their implications for workers lives.

This paper will be presented at the following session: