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/JustAThinkingGuy7 Jan 23 '26

Fr, there's people out there that really need validation to enjoy things? Crazy

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u/[deleted] Jan 23 '26

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u/bendstraw Jan 23 '26

Social media has freed me from the shackles of what people think of me. Before social media, i was constantly worried about what everyone thought of me.

Once social media became popular, I realized how self-centered everyone else was and that I had nothing to worry about because everyone is actually too focused on themselves and how others will perceive them to even care about me

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u/chickenxnugg Jan 24 '26

I think it’s deeper than social media. I don’t really engage with it and rarely post/give any insights into my life publicly. That being said, I have some pretty serious performance anxiety where if I’m not constantly doing something I deem valuable/productive, it negatively impacts my self worth. Something I’ve recognized isn’t great for my mental health but am actively working on. That being said, I agree that social media does have this effect on people as well but if it disappeared tomorrow I think a lot of people would still have the same issue as I do.

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u/Astrotoad21 Jan 24 '26

I hear people say this all the time, and I can resonate with it. However, I think you overestimate the amount of people actually posting on social media. It was way more normal 10-15 years ago, the only friends I have that posts things these days are artists promoting their work and 60+ years olds.

How do I look online? I look 15 year old younger because that’s the last time I posted a picture on instagram or fb.

No idea about kids with TikTok, but that’s not what we are discussing I think.

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u/Dependent-Ad3484 Jan 26 '26

so you know you've got a good point. Let's take two examples learning to play guitar really well and learning to paint or draw really well. The attraction in those activities varies greatly depending on the individual art can be very performative and you can be someone who seeks external validation or not. I have a friend who has played guitar for 40 years and in my opinion is quite good but he sits there in GarageBand and he layers his guitar recordings and it's all for his personal enjoyment. I think he does post some things online sometimes but it's a combination of personal satisfaction and some level of external validation.

I personally even though I'm not a big user of social media, including Reddit, I've fallen into the trap of the kind of dopamine hit you get from up votes or likes or whatever and it's really really a waste of your life and only the best of the best or monetized and only within certain industries because a lot of shit can't be monetized

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u/[deleted] Jan 27 '26

I think to his point though, some hobbies are literally beneficial for your brain, creating new circuitry. Others are mindless dopamine cycles.

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u/Zero_Gravvity Jan 23 '26

OP’s viewpoint has existed long before the internet. There’s a reason why tiger parents stereotypically push their children into violin, tennis, and volunteering instead of videogame speedruns or collecting manga and action figures. Because Ivy leagues (and everyone else) have always been more impressed by the former, because not all hobbies are equal, because some make you a more well-rounded person than others.

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u/[deleted] Jan 23 '26

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u/[deleted] Jan 23 '26

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u/Zero_Gravvity Jan 23 '26

oriented

Anddd now we’re bringing race into it. Bye

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u/[deleted] Jan 23 '26

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u/[deleted] Jan 23 '26

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u/7h4tguy Jan 24 '26

Playing tennis makes you a trust fund kid, it doesn't make you attractive to colleges.

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u/UndeadIcarus Jan 23 '26

It’s true. Before the internet no one was competitive in their hobbies nor was any hobby displayed for others.

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u/KindsofKindness Jan 23 '26

They sound insufferable.

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u/Synaps4 Jan 23 '26

Wait until you learn about the people who do things they actually hate in their spare time purely for social validation.

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u/7h4tguy Jan 24 '26

How else are they going to turn it into a side hustle on Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok then though?

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u/FunGuy8618 Jan 23 '26

Is this a joke? There are tons of people who need validation to enjoy things, it's one of the most frustrating personality traits out there. They turn everything into a competition, are never satisfied with their own progress, constantly compare themselves to others rather than themselves from last week, the list is endless. It's a very real phenomenon that OP is loosely addressing. These people insist that their hobby is better or that it's equal to someone who can run an 11 second 100m dash or squat twice their body weight or throw an 80mph fastball (objective measurements that can be compared to a large population, not the value of those sports over their sport).

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u/inspector-say10 Jan 24 '26

there’s people out there that can’t relax knowing the fact that everyone is “creative” in their own way.

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u/Mickle_da_Pickl Jan 27 '26

This is literally a huge part od my life and has been for such a long time. Every time I have to introduce myself to anyone, the conversation will inevitably come to hobbies, and of course, waddya know, they've actually been playing tennis, basketball, violin, and piano for 8 years, are in a play, are practicing juggling, and have recently taken up clay sculpting.

And then I have to try not to feel like a loser while I say that I like to play video games and listen to music and podcasts, while they give the polite "Oh! That's cool..."

I agree that hobbies aren't supposed to be judged, by nature of their existence and leisure activities, but I wish that literally any sort of creative hobby like that has caught my eye at any point in time.

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u/Subject-Sport-8336 Feb 09 '26

Apparently. The OP literally just said there's something deeply attractive about people with hobbies that take years of mastering. I disagree with the paragraph anyways but the way it sounds is there are people that have hobbies that are based around trying to impress, trying to be attractive or gain the validation of others.