1 Mariann Fekete Ph.D University of Szeged Faculty of Arts Department of Sociology, assistant lecturer eTIME or the NetworkiŶg of Leisure Tiŵe Generational culture consumption in the digital age Abstract The aims of my research are to reveal the effect of ICT tools on lifestyle, the typical patterns of cultural interests and cultural consumption in digital and mediated environment, the attributes of free time activities of different generations in the light of the findings of the last two timescale analyses. Additionally, an explanatory model which may assist us in revealing some special features of e-time will also be shown. Hungarian and international research about this topics shows that internet use is detrimental to social relations – especially at the early stages of the penetration period: it reduces the time spent with friends and family, weakens communication among family members, and also influences the use of different media. Traditional social and cultural activities are „in competition” with the internet, as the amount of free time has practically been constant for decades (an average of 4.5 hours per day for adults). Researchers have compared the activity structures of users and non-users, and their finding is that internet users are significantly more likely to read a book, use media actively also for various artistic content, visit art events, and participate in various leisure activities (sports, cinema etc.), while they watch less television. Keywords: culture, information society, cultural consumption and participation, internet use, generations Introduction Time, which made Saint Augustine frightened and confused, misled Newton, inspired Einstein and made Heidegger obsessed, is the wonderful invention of eternity. Culture is everything that cannot be perpetuated genetically, it even includes Voltaire and vodka advertisements. However, “in Bosnia and Belfast, culture is not only something that we put in a CD-player but it is also something which we need to kill for.” 1 Information society 2 , which revolutionises everything, establishes a novel social and economical formation, ignores the rules and the millennia-old rigid structures and destroys the frames of time and culture, is the new 1 Eagleton, 2001. 2 Z.Karvalics, 2002.