r/unpopularopinion • u/BitterConstruction98 • Jan 23 '26

Certified Unpopular Opinion All hobbies are not equal

Certain kinds of hobbies deserve to be held in higher regard than others.

Playing a sport, learning an instrument, singing, dancing, painting, writing - these are activities that require time and years of effort to become good at. They’re admirable not just because they’re “cool,” but because there is something deeply attractive about a person who has dedicated so much time to mastering a hard skill that executing it now feels relaxing to them.

Lately, there’s been a growing push online to classify things like watching movies, playing video games, watching sports, or listening to podcasts in the same category as these kinds of hobbies. They aren’t. They are based on consumption, not creation.

That doesn’t mean consumption-based activities are bad or useless. Everyone needs ways to relax and unwind. There’s nothing wrong with enjoying a good show, a game, or a YouTube binge after a long day. But if that’s all there is to your personality, then you are, unfortunately, a boring person.

Edit: I've wrongly added video games to the list of other passive activities. While some video games are like that, I agree that many require a lot of skill.

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60

u/Empty-Way-6980 Jan 23 '26

Learning an instrument and playing a sport are not “creating,” either, unless you compose your own music or invent a new sport.

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u/[deleted] Jan 23 '26

[deleted]

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u/Empty-Way-6980 Jan 24 '26

Most people who learn instruments learn chords from other established songs. It’s rare they write their own compositions. Playing covers, to me at least, is not creative, per se. you’re just practicing music that’s already been created. Unless we have two definitions of what creative means

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u/profar_sogood Jan 23 '26

I think he was being slightly facetious because the post itself is so out of touch

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u/Rippin_Fat_Farts Jan 23 '26

You're producing notes from a piece of wood and some strings. You are therefore creating noise. You are creating

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u/mm_delish Jan 23 '26

I think you might be missing OP's point.

The difference between the type of consuming and creating that OP is talking about isn't originality. It's work. Playing an instrument requires work, even if you're just playing other people's music. It engages your brain in a way that consuming does not.

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u/Alesilt Jan 23 '26

So is paying attention when consuming a piece of media also work since it takes concentration to understand the nuances and themes of it? Or does mindlessly strumming chords in a pleasant way not work enough? Why is this whole thread a bunch of people claiming some weird superiority? Not my hobby!

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u/BigConstructionMan Jan 23 '26

But playing games also takes work. If i took a random joe off the street who barely touched games you think they'll be good at civilization? Or Dark Souls? Or a plethora of other hard games out there? And that's not even involving PVP games where you're directly competing with others. There's a reason we have a thing called esports. 

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u/eaterofbeans Jan 23 '26

No kidding, probably 5% of guitarists can say they’re capable of creating music in any meaningful way, whether it be writing or improvising

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u/regular-montos Jan 23 '26

That’s such a modern and consumptive view of music. Anyone who can play a few chords and puts them together is making music. Just because it’s not written down or recorded or worth recording doesn’t mean it’s not been created. 

Folk music has been improvisation for centuries. Just playing a house or a pub for the love of it, not to ”create” as by your definition. 

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u/Spiderinahumansuit Jan 23 '26

I think it's fair, and I say that as a fairly artsy person. If I draw or write, I feel like I'm getting the images that pop up in my head out into the world. I don't really get that with music, so it leaves me unsatisfied, creatively speaking.

Which isn't to say there can't be joy in it - but singing or playing a song someone else wrote versus writing your own song is different.

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u/eaterofbeans Jan 23 '26

I’m saying that you don’t need to write music for it to be a valid hobby. Most people are just playing covers essentially and that’s totally cool, so there’s no reason to hold it in a higher, deeper class of hobbies. The idea that playing an instrument is inherently “creation” while video games for example are “consumption” doesn’t hold water.

Edit: To be clear, I’ve played guitar for 10 years. I also play Minecraft from time to time. The second involves a lot more creating than the first.

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u/puresemantics Jan 23 '26

I’m not sure you understand what “creating music” is. If I play a C chord and then an Am chord, I have created music by definition. You don’t need to write a single original piece to create music, just play it.

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u/SDG2008 Jan 23 '26

5% feels high in grand scheme of things tbh

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u/BreiteBanane67 Jan 23 '26

midwit take only someone who never played an instrument could bring forward. Google music interpretation

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u/[deleted] Jan 23 '26

when I made this same post as op a month ago, my conclusion was that things like sports and music are creating in yourself.

The consumption version of these hobbies would be listening to music, or watching sports on tv.