Abstract
As the amount of leisure time available to us has increased, scholars have begun to study the
appeal of different leisure activities. For mass media scholars, understanding the psychology of
media entertainment as a leisure activity has become increasingly important, especially with the
exponential growth of the media entertainment industry. Media flow theory (Sherry, 2004) explains
that the use of media can bring about a flow state, a positive experiential state characterized
by intense concentration and time distortion, heightened curiosity, perceived control, and a sense
of doing an activity for the activity’s sake. This theory is especially compelling to entertainment
scholarship because media flow theory – unlike other entertainment theories – has its roots in
leisure scholarship, specifically the exploratory model of play proposed by Csikszentmihalyi and
Bennett (1971). As the concept of flow has been debated by scholars, this paper addresses some of
the contemporary issues asso
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 27-39 |
Journal | Default journal |
State | Published - 2008 |