ArecentsurveystatesthatChinesepeoplehave2.55hoursoffreetimeonanaverageday，anincreasefrom2.16hoursrecordedthreeyearsago.Yes，youhearditright.Isaid'anincrease'.Althoughthat'sprobablynothowyoufeel.Beit2.55hoursor2.16 hours， you still barely have a moment to yourself， to relax， to detox， to simply stare into space and enjoy peace and quiet. Instead， your neck is stiff. Your eyes are sore. Your back hurts. You are full of greasy takeout and you feel busy all the time but you haven't gotten anything done.If that's the case then you are suffering from what Dr. BeiBei (me) diagnoses as Passive Leisure Syndrome.The survey shows that on average， Chinese people now spend 1/3 of their free time glued to their smartphones; 1/6 of it on watching TV and a puny 1/10 on reading and next to nothing on exercising or relaxing outdoors.Wei Xiang， an expert from the Research Center for Leisure in Beijing Second Foreign Language University， says Chinese people spend 2/3 of their leisure time without moving much and the other 1/3 doing passive activities such as watching TV or surfing online. Wei Xiang warns that across different ages， income levels and for both genders there is a severe lack of productivity and creativity during leisure time. Well， one might ask， aren't we supposed to accomplish nothing during our free time? Isn't that our chance of being lazy and unproductive? Well， maybe for a little bit， but after a while the sad feeling of being unproductive can hit you hard. Leisure doesn't have to mean getting nothing done. It shouldn't just come in the form of a slouched body with a swiping hand or a remote control. It shouldn't be any kind of sickness. As Ralph Waldo Emerson put it 'Guard well your spare moments. They are like uncut diamonds. Discard them and their value will never be known. Improve them and they will become the brightest gems in a useful life.' Maybe we are only entitled to a few diamonds， but isn't that more of a reason to make them shine?So Dr. BeiBei， is there a cure?You bet there is.The first step in upgrading the quality of your leisure time is to realize its importance.Free time is precious to all of us， but we don't all know that how we spend our free time can shape our lives. George Eastman， the founder of Eastman Kodak Company， once said that 'What we do during our working hours determines what we have; what we do in our leisure hours determines what we are.' For most of us， the work place isn't where we go to do what we love or where we go to improve our health， both mentally and physically. But at least， it gives us 'what we have'.Luckily we still have those 2.55 hours to be who we are. That's when an accountant who is a musician in heart can play his or her piano. Or when a programmer who has always wanted to be a pilot can learn to fly. Or in my case， a radio person who really just wants to read and read and read a lot more， can sit with a cup of hot coffee and yes， just read.But you say I fall into the passive leisure mode without even realizing it. Whenever I have a free moment my smartphone presents itself and my index finger would start swiping. Before I know it an hour has slipped by. That happens to all of us. It's so easy to be passive but so sad to see your life waste away.As with the breaking of any bad habit， it's not easy， but there is a way. Put away that new shiny smartphone of yours. The moment you take it up after work， remind yourself that you're not its slave. It's supposed to work for you and make your life more efficient. The next time when you want to log on to your favorite shopping site and browse for things you don't actually need， stop， and remind yourself the things you enjoy DOING rather than buying. And when your TV and couch beckon you with their shiny face and open arms， tell them that you will look and feel so much better if you take a walk in the park instead.Don't let your phone， TV or computer dictate your life. You are the boss! Tell them to bother you less and hand back to you your time， freedom and peace. You will then have the leisure to read， to play sports， to talk to your loved ones and to become what you dream of becoming.Make your leisure time serve you well. For those precious 2.55 hours， be the BOSS!