Akademik

n.

A sedentary lifestyle focused on screen-based activities, particularly television, the Internet, and video games.

Numbers tell us people don't participate in outdoor activities the way they once did. ... Visits to national parks are down, as are fishing, hunting and even watching wildlife. Only 25 percent of the population — down 18 percent — participates in an outdoor activity.

Scientists call it "videophilia" — a way of life connected to computers, video games and TV.

—"Encroaching spring bids us head outdoors," Grand Rapid Press, March 16, 2008

Struggling orchestras or theatre companies are one thing. But when you hear about golf course operators trying to offset decline with special marketing packages aimed at women and families or trying to recruit young people through high school outreach programs, you begin to wonder what's really happening here.

Is this all part of a broader trend? Is it a shift in interests that is talking place, or is it a general withdrawal from activities outside the home?

Demographic trends such as an aging population have been mentioned as part of the explanation, although this could just as easily be a growth factor for leisure activities such as golfing, fishing, going to the theatre or a symphony concert.

The reports on nature-oriented recreational activities losing their appeal emphasize the concurrent rise of "videophilia" — a shift to "sedentary, electronic diversions such as playing video games, surfing the Internet and watching television" as a primary factor.

—Martin DeGroot, "Apathy in arts reflected in general lack of activity," The Record, February 26, 2008

We have presented data suggesting that as sedentary recreation choices involving electronic media become more prevalent and the cost of motor vehicle travel rises we may, unfortunately, predict further declines in per capita NPV. If it is indeed true that people have changed their behavior, that they go to national parks less (at least in part) because they are more sedentary and use electronic media more, what does this mean for biodiversity conservation in general? There would seem to be at least two possible biodiversity conservation-related viewpoints. One viewpoint might see declining per capita NPV, and the resulting reduced ecological pressure on our national parks, as being a good thing. An opposing viewpoint might see people's apparent decrease in 'biophilia' and corresponding increase in 'videophilia' (which we here define as "the new human tendency to focus on sedentary activities involving electronic media") as being a very bad thing indeed.

—Oliver Pergams and Patty Zaradic, "Is love of nature in the US becoming love of electronic media?," Journal of Environmental Management, March 30, 2006

The word videophile is in the Oxford English Dictionary — where it's defined as "One who is very keen on watching television or video recordings" — with an earliest citation from July 2, 1978. The corresponding term videophilia could therefore be defined as "Keenness for watching television or video recordings", which makes it a bit different than the "screen-oriented lifestyle" sense that I'm posting here. The "keen for screens" sense dates to at least 1987:

One of the most trendy products is the satellite dish. With a diameter of about 5 feet and the aesthetic appeal of a radar aerial, the home satellite aerial is nevertheless the ultimate symbol of videophilia.

—Jonathan Miller, "Shopping: The flat screen society," The Times, January 17 1987