So I was thinking- back in the Victorian era, home hobbyists were into photography, and after a while, the Kodak brownie was invented and photography became basically a universal practice. Then it was radio, and people would build radio receivers and transmitters in their basement, and after a while radios were put into mass production and networks began broadcasting. Back in the 1970’s, the home computer was a hobbyist toy, and at least to a small extent you had to be able to do your own repairs and write your own programs. (Come to think of it, back in the 1950’s sometimes people would play with their own printing press, of all things.)
What are the high-tech hobbies of today? Holography comes to mind, although holography has been around as a home hobby for at least a quarter-century. If anything, holography is ready for the equivalent of the Kodak brownie. Are there any hobbies that have been made possible by recent technological advances?
Radio broadcasting, sort of. Anyone with a decent computer and a decent connection can do a radio show over the internet. I do one on saturday nights. See my sig for the url.
Actually, I had been thinking of the fact that one of the big advances of late is genetic engineering, but there doesn’t seem to be a lot of hobby potential there. The closest I’ve seen is a kit that lets kids insert GFP genes into bacteria, which then glow green. Ditto for superconductors: once the magnet floats, then what?
Part of my motivation in starting this thread is that it seems like the Internet has (as pointed out by Mahaloth and spacecat) given rise to a lot of new hobbies. It got me to wondering if there were all that many new non-Internet hobbies out there, what with the onward march of science and all.
Motorsports is a great technological hobby , I know kids who can’t pass social studies exams, but who can take a car apart, and put it back together, and increase it’s horsepower by 20 to 30 ponies.
Speaking as someone who has gone through just about every hobbby you mentioned, I’d have to say that the Computer is it. I’ll bet even people that have normal hobbies like stamp collecting or knitting spend as much time talking about it online as doing it.
As for the tinkerers and Ham Radio guys… They are writing code, building home automation systems, building home theaters, making web pages… There are still lots of output for those desires.
Holography would be tricky at home due to the problems with vibration (because it’s all done with interference patterns, the very slightest vibration ruins the image), but perhaps that would add to the appeal.
I’d second web page design; everybody’s doing it now.
Actually, I had been thinking of the fact that one of the big advances of late is genetic engineering, but there doesn’t seem to be a lot of hobby potential there. The closest I’ve seen is a kit that lets kids insert GFP genes into bacteria, which then glow green. Ditto for superconductors: once the magnet floats, then what?