You need more hobbies

On why I looove hobbies.

My overflowing bookshelf.

There was a video going around a little while ago on TikTok and then eventually YouTube (where I came across it) which asked, amongst other things, “Name A Single Hobby Besides Media Consumption”. ¹

Whilst it was fairly critiqued for her condescending approach and the fact that media consumption covers a variety of things–reading, video games, maybe even watching a play–other than scrolling TikTok, I still think she had a pretty good point.  

It’s a bit of a difficult concept to find data on because everyone classifies a hobby slightly differently (plus every study I came across seemed to have a different answer) but in my anecdotal experience a majority of people I know have zero hobbies. 

These aren't people who work 12 hours a day or are busy carers and don't have the time for it, they are people who have the time, space, and most often funds for it, they just… don’t. 

What do they do in their spare time? 

Scroll, scroll, scroll. Or watch Netflix and scroll. Or text and scroll. As the TikTok lady said, they do media consumption! Their lives are mostly consumed by the glowing rectangle that has us all in its iron grasp.

This criticism is judgement-free and from a place of love because, until fairly recently, this was me. I was a hobbyless media-consuming scroll-er. 

Pre-pandemic, my screen time averaged 7 to 10 hours per day–and this was alongside my full-time office job. I could barely watch a film without picking up my phone, and the thing was pretty much in my hand from the second I reached under my pillow to turn my alarm off in the morning, to the 5th question I just had to quickly Google before bed.

As a creative child, I was always finding something to fill my time with, but in early adulthood, I was busy and tired and scrolling. As was everyone else, so what was the problem? Plus I worked in Digital I simply had to be online or else I wouldn't be able to keep up right? (NO!) 

I wondered where the hell had mine, and everyone else's, hobbies gone? 

The most obvious reason one thinks of when considering why we don’t have hobbies is the usual: people are tired and people are busy. It’s a lot easier to scroll through our bespoke algorithms than get up and do something.  

I’d be amiss to also mention our outright addiction to these devices. It’s hard to read or paint when your brain is constantly nudging you to check your phone. ²

But there's also this feeling within our culture that we can’t imagine doing something that isn’t tied to work or productivity. We feel that if an activity isn’t productive it's not a valuable action, it’s not a good way to spend our time.

We also often feel there's no point in doing something if we aren’t going to be THE BEST at it. Who wants to waste precious, precious time to play the guitar or draw if we’re creating something that’s bad? Who wants to play sports if you’re going to lose? 

Or, at the other end of the spectrum, if you are good at your hobby, then you’re encouraged to start a side hustle, then it’s a worthwhile way to spend your time. And then, is it really leisure anymore if you’re making money from it?

My hobby saving grace was lockdown–and subsequently furlough. I suddenly had a lot more time on my hands, and my usual work evenings scrolling scrolling scrolling were no longer a relaxing release, it had started to become a bit depressing. I needed something better to do instead. 

It started with books. 

I was never actually a massive reader, but 2021 changed that. I started the year with the Bridgerton series (thanks to Netflix) and read the entire book in a day. I dabbled with various mysteries and then fell into a hole of Stephen King. Once I started I couldn’t stop, and a book or more a week has been the norm for me since, and I couldn’t imagine it any other way. 

Whilst I believe books are a lot more engaging and brain-working than media consumption, it was still a level of sit-back-and-consume, and my fingers were itching for something more. Next came crafts. Crocheting and knitting was becoming trendy and after enjoying the craft as a child I was eager to give it a go. Funky-looking hats and pouches, baby blankets and wonky toys.

Having these two regular and incredibly fun activities paved the hobby-way for me. I was itching for more, and my screen time was dropping dramatically. It was a contentious effort to do so, and my brain still craves the scroll, but once I realised how much more fun real life was I couldn't stop. 

Yoga, running, netball. 

Drawing, painting, sewing. 

Clay making, gardening, baking. 

I can no longer imagine a life without movement and creation, a week without a small sense of achievement borne from actions or creations from my own body. 

The reason I'm such a promoter of hobbies is because of the incredible depth they bring to our lives.

Hobbies allow us to actually have FUN, they allow us to play. They allow us to experience new situations and try new things, work parts of our brains, parts we often haven’t exercised since childhood.  When was the last time you were allowed to freely craft and create? To sit down and make something with your hands? 

Hobbies stop our lives from revolving solely around our work or our career–they make us realise work isn’t everything by enabling us to find that sense of achievement and of worthiness in new ways. 

Hobbies often allow us to exercise real-life skills—skills that bring us independence from our alienated society. On a larger scale, if you can sew your own clothes or grow your own food, you’re much more able to look after yourself if shit hits the fan. But even on a small scale, keeping yourself entertained without external input is a coveted ability, you don’t need to be plugged in for a feeling of joy or a sense of direction in life. 

On a similar note, I feel taking our attention and our need for entertainment out of the hands of the Industrial Growth Society is an act of resistance. This society only works if we’re exhausted, and lacking confidence and agency; hobbies give us energy and confidence and agency. 

Time is obviously a big issue when it comes to hobbies. People are tired and busy, and when you're exhausted already it's an effort to pull yourself away from the screen. But it doesn't have to be hours each week. 

10 minutes of reading here and there or an hour of crafting on a Sunday morning. 

Cooking dinner one day a week, or even baking yourself a nice dessert. 

Yoga and movement before bed. 

And once you begin you will be proud of yourself. You will feel able. You will begin to feel like you can take on more and more and more. 

Hobbies don’t have to be surrounded by consumption. Sometimes I buy too many books or craft supplies, but you don’t need money to get started. You can find craft kits in the charity shop, you can borrow books from the library, you can cook with wonky veg, you can borrow an instrument from your friends.

They allow us to just enjoy being alive. When we’re doing them we’re not past thinking or future thinking. We are just there enjoying this moment in our lives. That we exist. That we can create. That we can produce beautiful things with our own beautiful bodies.

P.S. If you enjoy my writing, you can buy me a coffee to fuel my work.

1. I actually can’t find the video now. She did come across as rude, though I feel most of the criticism was because I think it hit a chord people didn’t like.

2. This still hasn’t gone away for me. I’ve just got better at ignoring it.