You can have your hobby

You can’t just game, collect, or get into fashion without the need to buy a ring light, plan a shelf tour, or post every step for strangers. It’s all fake now. It’s not about actually doing the hobby, it’s about looking like you do.

(from TikTok Has Destroyed Hobbies)

Something weird has happened to hobbies. They don't feel like hobbies anymore. Whether you're into music production, skateboarding, painting, photography, or film making, our culture has made us feel like this recreation time is a waste unless it's building towards something bigger. You can't just paint anymore.

(from The grindification of hobbies)

What happens when you get so deep into the social media that you forget that there’s real life outside it?

I keep seeing videos like the ones quoted above that all share a common thought: “you are not allowed to have a casual hobby anymore” and it boggles my mind because it’s such a weird thing to say. When these people say how “you can’t X anymore”, I keep wondering who are the people preventing us from doing that?

I believe the disconnect happens because people watch social media influencers and content creators run a business disguised as hobby but they think they are watching a real hobby.

It’s why it works so effectively too for making money. You start to compare your own hobby stuff with people’s full time businesses (without realising it’s a business) and feel sad and discontent and you decide to buy into what they are selling to make you feel better.

The difference is that when you put money into the hobby, you’re not getting money out of it. When they invest in stuff in excess to make you feel discontent, they are making a profit. Not only do you lose money but you also lose joy from actually doing the hobby because you’re just focused on spending to reach a level that’s not real.

There are some real negative effects on hobbies that these popular trends cause. I play Pokémon TCG and since the social media influencers got into it and caused the prices to soar, it’s been more and more difficult and expensive to play. Luckily, there are ways to circumvent that if you’re really just interested in playing the game.

If your hobby is playing chess, you can play your entire life with a single board and enjoy games with your friends and local game groups or play online with anyone from the world. Nobody’s forcing you to write your own Queen’s Gambit tv show about your hobby.

It’s so weird to watch and read videos and essays about how hobbies are ruined when the things they describe, only happen in a small, isolated bubble of social media content creation.

I don’t care if people in TikTok’s book niche don’t read books. It’s not away from me enjoying reading books. Why would anyone position themselves into a situation where they let social media businesses make them feel bad about there hobbies? I don’t know.