hello hello and welcome or welcome back to my channel so in today's video obviously you can
tell by the title I want to jump into this whole debate argument conversation as to whether or not
content consumption counts as a hobby and whether there's any gray area there and I feel like the
conversation is starting to come up a lot because it seems like in place of hobbies quite a few of
us myself include it sometimes we tend to just consume hours worth of content and obviously as
someone who's on both sides of the argument as a Creator and a consumer I wanted to give
my perspective because sometimes I feel like my hobbies got away from me in the recent times and
also just talk about Beyond okay is do we have hobbies do we don't have hobbies what happens
if we don't have hobbies what are some things that this can manifest or extend into so let's go ahead
and get into it it's a hot topic now that even across age groups people seem to have less hobbies
and that in place of a hobby a lot of us just consume hours worth of content I'm sure y'all have
seen the spell pharaoh video but if not I think we place way too much emphasis on on looks when it
comes to building confidence because some of you guys have not read a book in years don't know how
to Deer taxes have no sense of identity outside of the internet and can't speak in public and yet
every morning there you are looking at yourself in your full length Ikea mirror going you're so
hot you're the prettiest girl in the world okay and even if that were true and let's be honest who
cares spell pharaoh tell me tell me what the FTC does name a single hobby of yours outside of media
consumption people reacted to that differently saying oh she made me get back into a hobby I
haven't been into for years or like girl you don't even know what you're talking about but this
Hobby's discourse as will call it is definitely on people's minds I think the biggest great
area or point of contention is over whether media consumption is a hobby and in my personal opinion
the answer to that question could be both yes or no because I can't sit here and say that reading
can't be hobby or watching a certain type of film or something of that nature I think the creator of
that video later clarified they meant social media which is what a lot of us would call content now
and not just media in general but even there I do feel like there's still a bit of gray area because
outside of books movies or more traditional media a lot of the so-called content that I consume is
related to a hobby of mine that way I can learn more about it or hear other people's perspectives
on that topic obviously music pop culture history a lot of things like that a different I can see on
the type of content consumption being counted as a homie is the intentionality behind it for example
I don't know if I would necessarily count blindly scrolling my for you page or my Twitter feed as
a hobby but like I said I think you can use those apps as a vehicle to learn more information about
your hobby new techniques Etc another dichotomy in the hobby discourse is creation versus consumption
I feel like we tend to think if you're creating something in your leisure time that leans more
towards a hobby and if you're merely consuming that's not necessary necessarily a hobby and this
isn't a new conversation surprisingly or maybe unsurprisingly one article I read written by Marco
Kar back in 2018 was very much of the opinion that content consumption isn't a hobby the article was
based around a question a friend asked him the question being okay okay but what can you create
in what way does your creativity get manifested and maros said that question made him realize that
consuming content and often consuming just the output of other people's Hobbies basically doesn't
really count as having one of your own he writes the problem arises when consuming content becomes
exclusive way of spending our free time and when we are presenting these kind of activities as our
hobbies in my case often in Need for inspiration I've consumed enormous amounts of content I've
watched Silicon Valley to inspire me for making a mobile app after four seasons there is no app so
not saying consuming content is bad or abnormal but it's not the same as having a hobby and in
some cases can dup us into thinking we're moving closer to our goals with our own Hobbies or life
in general with we're just continuing to consume and while I don't know if I can completely agree
with this I still enjoy the question that the article raises is something only a hobby if it
results in some creative product or a product in general let's make a case for those who say no not
all Hobbies result in a product being made a lot of hobbies related to consuming media like books
or movies for example do still lend themselves to so-called productive conversations or discourse
even if you don't have anything tangible to show for it like say you love A Song of Ice and Fire
or something because I do so we're going to use that example I feel like the intangible product
of that hobby could be as simple as walking away with a new theory about something or a
better understanding of a piece of text from the books or a scene from one of the shows and hey
maybe if that conversation was happening over a forum that is the tangible product in a sense I
just don't know if I can agree that for example film can't be a proper hobby of someone's if they
don't make films or make film related content themselves but still if someone tells me their
homie is film my assumption is never that they're just rotting in front of the TV all day watching
whatever happens to come on and maybe that's more so in terms of media because it's created
to be watched or consumed unlike crocheting or something but still if bird watching for
example is your hobby you could be so educated on it and not necessarily have anything creative come
from it I feel like there's going to be so many different opinions on this so if you have one do
feel free to share it I feel like something else important to break down if we're going to make
these blanket statements that people don't have hobbies anymore people have less Hobbies is why
and I feel like obviously one of the aspects to it aside from social media because while social
media does make problems I don't necessarily agree that oh no one has Hobbies anymore just because of
social media there are other factors and I think one of them is definitely Financial aspect because
a lot of hobbies that people might have do require equipment that you have to buy like for example
if you want to get into Pottery you probably got to pay to have access to a wheel definitely have
access to a Kill or something of that nature but not every hobby is expensive comparatively some
are way more affordable than others s months ago I came across articles about the rise of Granny
Hobbies or Grandpa Hobbies especially when it comes to Millennials in genin Z and I've seen
a lot of people Express excitement that they now have a granny hobby so to speak this refers to
relatively inexpensive often craft or domestic related Hobbies like crocheting knitting baking
even gardening things of the like Newsweek interviewed a woman named Sam who's 27 about
baking becoming one of her granny hobbies and she claimed I think people are doing more of
these Hobbies because they save money and their handson and productive there is fatigue from all
the social media and technology so people are craving activities that create something in
the real world also read an NBC article from about 2 years ago saying these granny Hobbies
were simultaneously influenced by social media as they developed into certain Aesthetics according
to them the coastal Grandma aesthetic popularized people wanting to be in their so-called Grandma
era which translated to participation activities like crocheting or canning around mid 2020 going
into 2021 I remember Cottage Corps being very popular one because we were all at home or in
our yards if we had them so related activities like baking and gardening similar to the coastal
Grandma actually were pretty popular something the NBC article points out is that different to a lot
of past Generations many of us are learning these granny Hobbies online are from peers rather than
from a grandparent and I think part of the reason a lot of us don't learn these Hobbies from our
grandparents if we're fortunate enough to have her be close to them is time a lot of our grandparents
still work or we work or both of us work which could can make it difficult to dedicate time to
learning a new skill even if we can't afford it and I see a lot of people my age lamenting that
they don't have the time or to burn out to enjoy a hobby they used to love or pick up something new
I think this is also where those jokes about girl rotting or rotting in bed on your phone come from
too it's almost like Revenge sleep procrastination where as a form of time Reclamation and self-care
you do absolutely nothing rather than going on that run or crocheting that blanket because
you've already been working all day likely and when you're over work things meant to be done
in Leisure can still feel like work and that can also be in conjunction with mental things like
stress anxiety and maybe even depression and Beyond adults or people who are working I feel
like the time aspect can negatively impact kids developing Hobbies too for example as somebody
who frequents craft stores and has for years I've noticed that maker spaces where crafting lessons
are taught are way way emptier than they were when I was a child and it's not because all kids
everywhere hate crafting because really that's not true but if you're 10 and you want to go to
a painting class and you don't have anyone with the free time to take you or maybe the money to
pay then you can't go and that could extend to any hobby really whether it's picking up a sport
or instrument or learning a new language and so now I want to address another piece of viral
content that you may have seen the original post I believe was deleted but essentially the Creator
was making fun of another for talking about picking up skateboarding and taking lessons
listen I don't have too much that I believe in but I met this guy the other day and he said he
took a skateboarding class as an adult and I was like okay that should be illegal that should be
illegal I'm sorry a bunch of men in their late 20s and early 30s people not men anyone that age
range learning how to escape by a teacher people came out in drobes and I'm going add myself to
the numbers saying that no one's ever too old to learn a hobby and often adults pick up Hobbies
they always wanted to but couldn't pursue earlier for whatever reasons I also saw the point which I
very much do agree with is that picking up Hobbies especially as an adult is really a way to create
community because it is a lot harder to make friends as an adult and a lot of us adults and
even teenagers kids I would argue say that we're loner than ever nowadays and it's so much easier
to make buddies with somebody if you guys are united around a similar interest or if you're
both learning something new together because it's easy to bom with someone that way and I feel like
the lack thereof of hobbies potentially could tie into people's longing for third places and not to
say that every single third place is related to a hobby but quite a few of them are and I feel like
I and probably other people at the point where it's like oh I'm going to spend 30 $40 $50 at
the club on some cheap cocktails and like a night out that's not even that fun would it not be more
worth it to spend that same amount of money on like dues for a club like an activity based club
that is related to my hobby and it's going to teach me something new and maybe connect me with
people who are more willing to talk and Converse with me and that Creator's judgment over the man
learning to skateboard reminded me of like a few months ago when I was talking about the concept of
cringe and how posting about your hobbies online even if you are trying to find Community through
that posting it can open you up to a lot of the judgments a lot of the unwarranted criticisms
often just from people online who may not even be related to that hobby or in that subculture
that you're trying to build community within also in this conversation of hobbies especially ones
that require materials is this idea of overc consumption like can something be a hobby if
consumption is at its core is it a problem if your hobby requires a lot of consumption questions of
the like collections are a big example and I'm really intrigued by this topic because I don't
fully know where I stand or where for sure think a collection stops and over consuming or hoarding
begins in response to the Stanley Cup craze there was discourse that people have the tendency to
consume in place of an identity or Hobby in hopes of it becoming a shortcut to that same sense of
fulfillment on one hand I can understand the perspective that collecting staning cups makes
no sense because the point is to have one that way you're not using a bunch of containers but
you could argue at least I could use all 20 of my Stanley Cups even if it's unlikely but if
I collect a rocks for example what use would I I have for those a difference I can personally
see is maybe the reason you began the collection or the motivation behind collecting like whether
it's for a Sentimental or spontaneous reason versus just trying to keep up with the trend
that went viral I've also seen people say what makes something a collection and the hobby part
of it is the actual time spent hunting for the items the actual curation of them not just going
to one place and buying all the colors and quantity that you want and for example I had
a quarter collection as a kid like where you try and collect one from all 50 states and because I
was a kid back when people still use cash and change pretty often I was able to make the
collection organically I don't have it anymore I honestly spent all those [ __ ] by middle school
but say if I just went online and bought quarters from all 50 states put them in my book and called
it a day does that make it less of a collection or is it still a collection and even if it is
does it no longer count as a hobby interested to hear your thoughts on this also so now I
want to revisit the coastal Grandma aesthetic and the idea of Aesthetics as a whole there's
a whole bunch of discourse now about how people especially younger people are trying to form
their identities and trying to do so by applying these Aesthetics to themselves be it the mob wife
the coastal Grandma eclectic Grandpa whatever any of the above and since these Aesthetics can
have specific clothing styles and accessories related to them now often marketed through
social media people try to chase an aesthetic or identity through consumption rather than lived
experience or an interest in that subculture Beyond aesthetic certain Hobbies can create
an entire Community or even a subculture and in turn that can inform how you present yourself or
how you create your quote unquote aesthetic by taking the Hobbies out of it or trying to
create the identity through consumption rather than experience it's like working backwards and
it's maybe why that aesthetic doesn't feel as authentic or fulfilling because it's not tied
to any genuine interest or the way you live your life dayto day so then you chase that
next aesthetic thinking the heart of the problem is that you're really an office siren and not a
coconut Girl and also a lot of the times when we bring these hobbies to social media because of the
Judgment there can be a need even if the hobby is genuine to overperform and present yourself
as the archetype of someone who enjoys that hobby less you be called a poser because to be honest
in several cases there actually isn't a specific way that a person who enjoys or participates in a
specific thing looks I have seen people bring up the aspect that while they may have a hobby it's
hard for it to feel like an escape or feel low stakes because there's this pressure to turn your
hobby into a side hustle which is very real on our capitalist hellscape and so it can be hard to
stay in that mindset of creating or contributing just for the sake of it rather than any higher
purpose than pure enjoyment I was trying to think of media depictions of people without hobbies and
though I have not seen succession that example came up a lot so y'all will have to confirm that
one for me I was going to make a joke and be like wow without Hobbies we'd be like the kins in the
Barbie movie and they kind of made a point about how useless the kins were because they weren't
as accomplished as Barbie's and had nothing to do really but then I was like wait Barbie has a bunch
of jobs and Ken actually does have a hobby it's just like beach or surfing I guess and then I was
like does Barbie canonically have hobbies outside of the thousands of jobs she has and apparently
Barbie's hobby is shopping or more so fashion and just learning about and catching up on the latest
trends personally whenever I think of somebody in media who has a hobby it's always going to
be Miss Raven Baxter and her passion for fashion and I was thinking more about people who don't
have hobbies in media this gym this gym I dropped out in the fourth grade to run drugs to support my
Nano that means you haven't known the triumphs defeats the Epic highs and lows of high school
football personally I'm glad that I got back into my hobbies because I realized I was having maybe
a bit of a problem when every other sentence I started when talking to somebody you know face
to face was like oh I saw a Tik Tok that said this I read a tweet that said that of course
it's going to come up in conversation but when I say that was basically the only thing I had
to bring up or talk about I was like I need to reassess what I'm doing with my life something
I've never really thought about until recently is that just engaging in Hobbies it does give give
you more of a sense of control over your life because it's like yeah I'm responsible for my
own algorithm or what have you but that doesn't mean I can control what post I see next when I'm
scrolling down my explore page for you page and then extending that to your to like real life
so to speak it's like maybe you can't move out of that house immediately maybe you can't quit
that job immediately but in your little bits of free time wherever you get it you can actually
choose what you want to create what you want to participate in what you want to engage in back in
2016 the Houston Press published an article titled your entertain pment choices aren't your identity
I really thought it would tie more into the idea that you can't put the cart before the horse or
the aesthetic before the hobby or the lifestyle and give a take on that before it became the Hot
Topic that it is now but I feel like it fits in more with the Paras socialism aspect because the
article discusses how it is so important to have a hobby and that entertainment related interests
are not inherently bad but overly consuming one thing is detrimental and consumes your identity
likely Without You consciously realizing and I have to share this paragraph because it is so
well written the author Jeffer writes Mass consumption of things also tends to bestow
an unearned sense of expertise on the consumable to stick with the geek subjects playing hours of
video games or reading stacks of comics goes from being a diversion to being an investment in your
personal worth it has to be for something and it's exactly where gatekeeping comes from all this does
is up the anti on how much a person has traded his own sense of self for shares in something he
doesn't truly owned only consumed if what's being consumed has a history of being marketed towards
a specific and fairly homogeneous demographic it gets even worse dragging tribalism and othering
into the conversation consumption becomes a resource to be protected against Invaders I
and I'm sure a lot of you guys see this salot online typically in regards to a specific pop
star or artist because that is similar to a lot of the content I consume where a family will cash and
their time spent consuming something in exchange for Authority when that's not always an even
exchange and again we come back to this point as roner quotes in his article how much of your time
has spent consuming things other people have made TV music video games or websites versus making
your own only one of those adds to your value as a human being and like I have already pointed out
I'm just not sure how much I can agree with this and maybe I'm taking it too literally to black and
white because I do think in several cases there are books that I've read films that I've watched
even a quote that I've read so obviously I consume that that was way more valuable that changed my
life in a more positive way than something that I might have created and then also I'm sure everyone
has made at least one or a few things in their life but not everybody wants to identify as a
Creator nor does everybody have to and I also do think in a sense in a lot of aspects to be
a decent to be a talented Creator you do have to be somewhat of a good consumer like for example
the Best Authors the best writers are the people who consume or read a lot of books because they're
getting the practice because they're learning the conventions and so once they do that they're able
to take the training wheels off and show us their own work and their own creativity and as always
I am just I feel like there's going to be some arguments in the comments some debate hopefully
some healthy debates I'm so eager to hear your thoughts like do you think content consumption
is a hobby or are you kind of like it could be in some instances but just laying on the
bed just scrolling scrolling scrolling maybe you wouldn't necessarily count that and then
more generally what are your thoughts what makes a hobby is it something that has to be actively
done where a product is made I have something to show you like here's my hobby here's what I
did here's the result or do you think it can be something that is quote unquote passive I.E I
don't know why I said I.E out loud I've never done that before but like innocent nothing is
made nothing tangible is produced but I walked away with some knowledge with some insight but
of course as always no matter where you fall in the conversation on the Spectrum drop your
comments and your opinions down below that way we can chat as we always do as always thank you
so much for watching be sure to like comment and subscribe so you can stick around for more also
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thank you so much for watching I love you all so very much and we'll see you so very soon bye-bye