Hybrid habitats: Remediating leisure, space and youth through Pokémon Go in India

Abstract This paper is set within the context of a rapidly urbanizing India with shrinking avenues of physical play and social engagement. The loss of traditional play spaces has redefined leisure activities for youth beyond offline sites into online spaces. These newer leisure engagements including gaming, binge-watching and social media interactions are predominantly virtual and sedentary. This shift, and the restrictions in their physical movements, reduce youth interactions with their social and material environments. Operationalizing Soja’s “Thirdspace,” this paper argues that Pokémon Go generates hybrid habitats at the confluence of leisure, youth, and digital gaming. Through qualitative interviews and co-playing sessions, this study draws from an engagement experience pool spanning 400 h of gameplay with five respondents in the Indian context. It examines how the everyday leisure activities of youth in augmented environments can lead to new spatio-cultural meanings, redefine immediate social environments, and create dynamic possibilities for youth development.