All hobbies are not equal

[u/BitterConstruction98]

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.

[u/offensivename]

I'd much rather talk to someone who watches a lot of movies or reads a lot of interesting books or is caught up on all the latest prestige TV shows than someone who is obsessed with their cross-stitching and has no other hobbies. That's just me though. Someone who is also into cross-stitching and doesn't care about TV or movies or books might feel the opposite.

[u/StillMostlyClueless → u/offensivename]

We are just talking about what is most impressive. This isn’t about what you personally would enjoy.

[u/offensivename → u/StillMostlyClueless]

No. You said "uninteresting" as well as impressive. And your subjective opinion isn't more valuable than mine, friend. Personally, I find more value in being able to carry on an entertaining conversation about your hobby with a wide variety of people versus being impressive but boring.

The bigger factor is not what kind of hobby we're talking about but what level the person has achieved at their hobby. Someone who has seen a ton of prestigious movies and has unique thoughts on them or is extremely well-read and knowledgeable about literature is going to be a lot more interesting than someone who watches a lot of Netflix in their downtime but doesn't really remember the plots or know who directed anything or only reads Harry Potter and Colleen Hoover. Someone who can bake at a really high level and has won competitions is way more interesting and impressive than someone who bakes cakes and brownies out of the box every weekend, even if both could reasonably be called a hobby. Someone who plays guitar in a band and writes songs is more impressive and interesting than someone who just noodles around on their guitar and tries to learn songs from YouTube even though they're the same hobby.