No Hobbies

[livingdeb]

Okay, so I'm looking at Rob's Acid Trip Modern entry to the smartest coolest apartments 2006 contest, an amazing retro-look apartment of just 260 square feet.

My first thought was that of course you can make a small apartment look good if you have piles of money and all you care about are looks. Where is his stuff?

Well, it turns out that he did the whole thing on a small budget by shopping at flea markets and such. Some of the commenters did have similar feelings about the lack of visible stuff, though. One person said, "I think I must be really old-fashioned because I have hobbies." Someone else responded:

Hobbies? That struck a chord -- I've interviewed over 500 people in the last five years (for my job) and perhaps a dozen admitted to having hobbies. Is it just that people don't have the time or energy anymore, or that they're sheepish about admitting to them? Or maybe it's that they don't think of what they do in their spare time as hobbies? Interesting question. . .It is kind of an old-fashioned word.

I can't even imagine how fewer than 5% of people admit to having hobbies. I've often noticed that many adults have only one job and one hobby and devote a great majority of time to these two things. But no hobbies at all? Perhaps they have jobs and children, and they do whatever hobbies their children have.

But the people in this contest so far have all been single adults. One of them did admit to sewing. Or as someone else implied, maybe their hobbies are watching TV and web surfing and other things that don't really sound like hobbies.

Comments

[llcoolvad.livejournal.com]

I now love that site, thanks for the link! I love looking at other people's houses and ideas for storage. My last two apartments were pretty small, so I am particularly interested in small space solutions.

Re: Anti-hobbies -- An interesting concept; it's possible that no one really thinks of what they do outside of work as a hobby anymore. The word "hobby" to me conjures up images of middle-aged men in cardigans doing stamp collecting or carving small wood toys; possibly smoking pipes. I don't think of my reading, surfing, watching teevee, trolling bookstores, playing freecell and sudoku, going to movies, taking photographs, or really any of my activities as hobbies.

Perhaps we are witnessing the passing of a concept? Not so much just that the word is old fashioned, but the way we pass our time? I know that I multitask when I do anything at all. Considering that most people multitask even when they DRIVE, maybe the idea of doing just one thing at a time is odd? And that's how we think of hobbies? As a one thing at a time sort of concept?

Anyway, interesting!

Hobbies

[fraeuleinchen.livejournal.com]

This is such an interesting topic to consider. I once told a guy I was starting to date that weaving was a hobby; he later 'called me' on it, and said that he thought I'd misrepresented myself, because it was clear after we knew each other for a while that I wasn't a prolific weaver. It was just something I'd dabbled in and fancied picking up again in the future; a sometimes-hobby. Since then, I have been careful to be specific in saying how much I do a certain thing, or how good I am (or am not) at it, so as not to create any unreasonable expectations.

I think llcoolvad hit the nail on the head with the notion of doing one thing at a time. The crux of the matter, I think, is that when you say that you do a certain thing, people automatically assume that you do that one thing *a lot* and are *good* at it, and that isn't necessarily the case. Now that I'm a little older, I am more at peace with the idea that if I like a thing, I am free to do it however vigilantly or sporadically I want to, and whether or not I am actually any good at said thing!

Re: Hobbies

[amandapage.livejournal.com]

I think I'll have to describe myself as a diletttante, a dabbler or a smatterer then, rather than having a hobby. I have about a half a dozen things on the go, with any one or three liable to go dormant due to lack of time or lack of major incentive. I'll knit like a fiend for a month, and then nothing for the next three.

I think sometimes-hobby is redundant, one definition of hobby being an activity or interest pursued outside one's regular occupation and engaged in primarily for pleasure.

[indigo-rose99.livejournal.com]

So, we need a new word, right?

Not "hobby." What is a good word for the things we do that we do occasionally, may not be any good at, but enjoy?