Sounds like my whole life. Great now I’m reduced to being a hobby.
This is so true!
When people are bummed out about not having friends/social life, the number one piece of advice they are handed is “Find some hobbies!” I think some people sincerely think hobbies will help you meet people, but if you think about it, the majority of hobbies that people engage in are not particularly social. The stereotypical ones–knitting, woodworking, model trains, etc.–are activities people typically do in their respective caves all by themselves. Sports and games are the obvious social hobbies, and yet some posters here have relegated them to the pastime category. But I’m thinking most people have a really broad concept of “hobby” (i.e., anything that will distract you from angst and loneliness, that you can bring up in conversation if someone asks what you’re into and potentially impress them).
I just got back from my nightly scooter constitutional and I’ve done some thinking. I think if I am going to mention this as a hobby in a future conversation, I will frame it as “My hobby is checking out different parts of the city on my scooter to acquire local knowledge” rather than “My hobby is riding on my scooter”. I don’t think I’d be riding my scooter if I lived out in the middle of nowhere, with nothing to talk about.
If this thread is any indication, I’m in good company.
As it happens, I do like to look up the definitions of words to understand the nuances of their meaning and their etymology. I was thrilled when I got my first computer back in the 90s, and I could load up the CD-ROM that was included in my hardcopy dictionary. That let me look up words with unprecedented efficiency. Now with Google, it’s even faster.
Given the amount of time people seem to spend fucking around w/ their phones - hobby?
If I spend a lot of time hanging out w/ friends in bars - hobby?
Probably a fool’s errand to try to define the word. Different people might derive different benefit from characterizing their own - or other people’s - activities as hobbies (or not). Calling something a hobby might be complimentary or disparaging.
This is exactly where I was going with it. A hobby is something you do with a certain level of seriousness.
Take gardening. It’s a hobby if you take it seriously, you carefully plan a garden bed, you research the plants, you actively care for the plants. If you only mow the lawn and trim the hedges and plant a few bulbs, gardening is not your hobby, it’s property maintenance.
If you watch TV, you’re just passing the time. If you put time and effort into watching a particular show, and approach that show with a seriousness that goes beyond just having the TV on for an hour a week, it can be a hobby.
I am going to start treating “hobby” the same way I treat “art”. “Art” is a big box I reserve for any creative expression. It is a value-neutral category. So saying something is art does not imply I think it is good or particularly impressive.
So if someone tells me playing on their phone is their hobby, I will just go along with that because I don’t really have a good reason to question whether that is a “real” hobby. (Plus it would be rude). But I can quietly question whether it is an impressive hobby. After all, when most people ask about one’s hobbies, it seems to me they are trying to get a feel for how interesting or impressive a person is. If someone told me their favorite hobby is playing on their phone, I would assume either they are not very interesting or they have no interest in sounding like an interesting person.
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I would say that the distinction is not that make no money, it’s that it’s not your main source of income to make a living. If it becomes your main source of income then it’s a business.
Anything you enjoy doing that isn’t “required” of you – work, household chores*, bathing, etc. *For some, household chores are a hobby, but you get my point.
This came up when I worked with the developmentally disabled. In the files we maintained on the individuals we served, we wrote down their hobbies. Many just preferred to watch TV, which was and is their right, and so we would say that So-And-So’s hobby was watching TV.
The dictionary definition of “hobby” is “1. an activity done regularly in one’s leisure time for pleasure.” That would include pretty much anything. I can go with that.
I’d call what you said a subset of what monstrosaid- I don’t think you can have an active pastime like you describe without having an adequate level of passion and focus for something to qualify as a hobby. And of course, it has to be done for personal enjoyment. Plenty of people are very passionate, active and focused about non-work activities, but they’re not doing them for fun either- stuff like PTAs, etc…
So I’d say that one person could ride bikes in the park as a pastime without it being a hobby, while the person who spends a significant amount of their time thinking mountain bikes, reading about mountain bikes and actually riding their mountain bike could call it a hobby.
Same thing about video games- someone who plays Tetris or Candy Crush on their phone when they’re doing boring stuff like waiting in line probably shouldn’t call that a hobby, but the guy who puts in 3 hours a night on Overwatch probably should.
Wait, there’s people into board games who don’t collect piles of them, half of which they’ll never get around to playing? I’m half-sure that churning out endless board games is what keeps Kickstarter going.
Or piles and piles of novelty D&D dice, boxes upon boxes of minis, etc…