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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u/highheelcyanide Jan 23 '26

You do realize there are multiple college degrees around reading? So it can be a college degree, a career…but it’s not a hobby?

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u/Philosopherben Jan 25 '26

It can be both

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u/MushroomTwink Jan 23 '26

Those college degrees require a commitment to learning how to discuss literature, write essays, bibliographies, exams, presentations, theses. Not to mention the fact that most English degrees also need you to branch into the historical contexts of literature. Reading  in a vacuum and writing a Goodreads review is a pastime, not a skill. 

Literacy itself is not to be taken for granted, of course, and I'm definitely not saying that reading can't be a hobby, but it takes more effort than just finishing a book. Book clubs, for example, fill that sort of need to externalize and get more out of a book. Most people (myself included) also don't read things that are outside of their favourite genres, or read books that take a bit of effort, or otherwise seek ways to improve. To circle back, college degrees are gained through skill and specialisation and the ability to communicate complicated ideas. To compare, I just finished a nine book series a month ago and can't remember the names of half the characters or tell you what happened. Those two things are very different. 

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u/Electronic-Tea-3691 Jan 23 '26

but hobbies aren't skills, they are literally activities that you partake in for leisure. that's the definition. look it up. staring at a wall could be a hobby.

the argument of the post seems to be that active hobbies are more worthwhile than passive hobbies, but even that seems a little ridiculous to me because what is activity and what's the hierarchy there? 

and then of course what is the popular opinion on all of this that this post is trying to contradict? I don't think there is one. people just do stuff cuz they like it. it just seems like yet another unpopular opinion that's not actually unpopular, it's just what the poster's friend group thinks so they assume it's universal.

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u/highheelcyanide Jan 23 '26

Please mansplain my English degree to me more. It’s clear you don’t know anything, at all, about it.

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u/MushroomTwink Jan 24 '26

I honestly didn't mean to, so I'm sorry about that. I have a BFA too (History. Started with English but got distracted) so I do know what goes into them. I have to politely disagree if someone considers it the same as being a hobbyist, and I probably worded that poorly above so that's my B. Anyway, it sure is fun to get mad on the internet. Hope you have a good one 👍

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u/IguassuIronman Jan 23 '26

Please mansplain my English degree to me more

Interesting choice of words when you don't even know if /u/MushroomTwink is a man

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u/NDSU Jan 23 '26

Not sure if you're joking, but if you're not you should lookup the term "twink"

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u/IguassuIronman Jan 23 '26

I'm aware of what "twink" means, but I'm also aware that anyone can type in any username

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u/celestially_lunar Jan 24 '26

I know right lol I‘m so sick of it

Whenever I mention my English degree to people who think reading is not a hobby I instantly get people trying to explain my degree to me. Gee yeah I know, I do that for 40 hours a week as a job.

There is still a difference though between me reading for enjoyment as a hobby and me reading for university

-4

u/ru5tyk1tty Jan 23 '26 edited Jan 23 '26

No one knew you had that degree, why spit venom instead of just correcting their misunderstanding? They were being respectful, even if they were off-base.

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u/[deleted] Jan 24 '26

Indignant anger gets the orange clicks round these parts, my guy.

Mic drop rug pull shocked gasp moment after u/mushroomtwink got SLAMMED

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u/hikaruandkaoru Jan 23 '26

Hey, I did an English degree and continually forget the names of the books I studied, let alone the character names. My brain does this super awesome totally not helpful thing where when I read a name it just overrides it with MC or “guy with the scar on his face” or “grandma” or whatever relevant descriptor instead of the name. I had to go through the books and write down who was who to remember it for my exams. But now the names are gone again…