Consuming Content is NOT a hobby... ?

hello hello and welcome or welcome back to my  channel so in today's video obviously you can tell by the title I want to jump into this whole  debate argument conversation as to whether or not content consumption counts as a hobby and whether  there's any gray area there and I feel like the conversation is starting to come up a lot because  it seems like in place of hobbies quite a few of us myself include it sometimes we tend to just  consume hours worth of content and obviously as someone who'

s on both sides of the argument  as a Creator and a consumer I wanted to give my perspective because sometimes I feel like my  hobbies got away from me in the recent times and also just talk about Beyond okay is do we have  hobbies do we don't have hobbies what happens if we don't have hobbies what are some things that  this can manifest or extend into so let's go ahead and get into it it's a hot topic now that even  across age groups people seem to have less hobbies and that in place of a hobby

a lot of us just  consume hours worth of content I'm sure y'all have seen the spell pharaoh video but if not I think  we place way too much emphasis on on looks when it comes to building confidence because some of you  guys have not read a book in years don't know how to Deer taxes have no sense of identity outside  of the internet and can't speak in public and yet every morning there you are looking at yourself  in your full length Ikea mirror going you're so hot you're the prettiest girl in t

he world okay  and even if that were true and let's be honest who cares spell pharaoh tell me tell me what the FTC  does name a single hobby of yours outside of media consumption people reacted to that differently  saying oh she made me get back into a hobby I haven't been into for years or like girl you  don't even know what you're talking about but this Hobby's discourse as will call it is definitely  on people's minds I think the biggest great area or point of contention is over whether media

  consumption is a hobby and in my personal opinion the answer to that question could be both yes or  no because I can't sit here and say that reading can't be hobby or watching a certain type of film  or something of that nature I think the creator of that video later clarified they meant social media  which is what a lot of us would call content now and not just media in general but even there I do  feel like there's still a bit of gray area because outside of books movies or more traditional

media  a lot of the so-called content that I consume is related to a hobby of mine that way I can learn  more about it or hear other people's perspectives on that topic obviously music pop culture history  a lot of things like that a different I can see on the type of content consumption being counted as a  homie is the intentionality behind it for example I don't know if I would necessarily count blindly  scrolling my for you page or my Twitter feed as a hobby but like I said I think you can us

e those  apps as a vehicle to learn more information about your hobby new techniques Etc another dichotomy in  the hobby discourse is creation versus consumption I feel like we tend to think if you're creating  something in your leisure time that leans more towards a hobby and if you're merely consuming  that's not necessary necessarily a hobby and this isn't a new conversation surprisingly or maybe  unsurprisingly one article I read written by Marco Kar back in 2018 was very much of the opinion

that  content consumption isn't a hobby the article was based around a question a friend asked him the  question being okay okay but what can you create in what way does your creativity get manifested  and maros said that question made him realize that consuming content and often consuming just the  output of other people's Hobbies basically doesn't really count as having one of your own he writes  the problem arises when consuming content becomes exclusive way of spending our free time and whe

n  we are presenting these kind of activities as our hobbies in my case often in Need for inspiration  I've consumed enormous amounts of content I've watched Silicon Valley to inspire me for making a  mobile app after four seasons there is no app so not saying consuming content is bad or abnormal  but it's not the same as having a hobby and in some cases can dup us into thinking we're moving  closer to our goals with our own Hobbies or life in general with we're just continuing to consume  and w

hile I don't know if I can completely agree with this I still enjoy the question that the  article raises is something only a hobby if it results in some creative product or a product in  general let's make a case for those who say no not all Hobbies result in a product being made a lot  of hobbies related to consuming media like books or movies for example do still lend themselves to  so-called productive conversations or discourse even if you don't have anything tangible to show  for it like s

ay you love A Song of Ice and Fire or something because I do so we're going to use  that example I feel like the intangible product of that hobby could be as simple as walking  away with a new theory about something or a better understanding of a piece of text from the  books or a scene from one of the shows and hey maybe if that conversation was happening over a  forum that is the tangible product in a sense I just don't know if I can agree that for example  film can't be a proper hobby of some

one's if they don't make films or make film related content  themselves but still if someone tells me their homie is film my assumption is never that they're  just rotting in front of the TV all day watching whatever happens to come on and maybe that's  more so in terms of media because it's created to be watched or consumed unlike crocheting  or something but still if bird watching for example is your hobby you could be so educated on  it and not necessarily have anything creative come from it

I feel like there's going to be so many  different opinions on this so if you have one do feel free to share it I feel like something else  important to break down if we're going to make these blanket statements that people don't have  hobbies anymore people have less Hobbies is why and I feel like obviously one of the aspects to  it aside from social media because while social media does make problems I don't necessarily agree  that oh no one has Hobbies anymore just because of social media the

re are other factors and I think  one of them is definitely Financial aspect because a lot of hobbies that people might have do require  equipment that you have to buy like for example if you want to get into Pottery you probably got  to pay to have access to a wheel definitely have access to a Kill or something of that nature but  not every hobby is expensive comparatively some are way more affordable than others s months ago  I came across articles about the rise of Granny Hobbies or Grandpa H

obbies especially when it  comes to Millennials in genin Z and I've seen a lot of people Express excitement that they now  have a granny hobby so to speak this refers to relatively inexpensive often craft or domestic  related Hobbies like crocheting knitting baking even gardening things of the like Newsweek  interviewed a woman named Sam who's 27 about baking becoming one of her granny hobbies and  she claimed I think people are doing more of these Hobbies because they save money and their  hand

son and productive there is fatigue from all the social media and technology so people are  craving activities that create something in the real world also read an NBC article from  about 2 years ago saying these granny Hobbies were simultaneously influenced by social media as  they developed into certain Aesthetics according to them the coastal Grandma aesthetic popularized  people wanting to be in their so-called Grandma era which translated to participation activities  like crocheting or cann

ing around mid 2020 going into 2021 I remember Cottage Corps being very  popular one because we were all at home or in our yards if we had them so related activities  like baking and gardening similar to the coastal Grandma actually were pretty popular something the  NBC article points out is that different to a lot of past Generations many of us are learning these  granny Hobbies online are from peers rather than from a grandparent and I think part of the reason  a lot of us don't learn these H

obbies from our grandparents if we're fortunate enough to have her  be close to them is time a lot of our grandparents still work or we work or both of us work which  could can make it difficult to dedicate time to learning a new skill even if we can't afford it  and I see a lot of people my age lamenting that they don't have the time or to burn out to enjoy  a hobby they used to love or pick up something new I think this is also where those jokes about girl  rotting or rotting in bed on your ph

one come from too it's almost like Revenge sleep procrastination  where as a form of time Reclamation and self-care you do absolutely nothing rather than going  on that run or crocheting that blanket because you've already been working all day likely and  when you're over work things meant to be done in Leisure can still feel like work and that can  also be in conjunction with mental things like stress anxiety and maybe even depression and  Beyond adults or people who are working I feel like the

time aspect can negatively impact kids  developing Hobbies too for example as somebody who frequents craft stores and has for years I've  noticed that maker spaces where crafting lessons are taught are way way emptier than they were  when I was a child and it's not because all kids everywhere hate crafting because really that's  not true but if you're 10 and you want to go to a painting class and you don't have anyone with  the free time to take you or maybe the money to pay then you can't go a

nd that could extend to  any hobby really whether it's picking up a sport or instrument or learning a new language and  so now I want to address another piece of viral content that you may have seen the original post  I believe was deleted but essentially the Creator was making fun of another for talking about  picking up skateboarding and taking lessons listen I don't have too much that I believe in  but I met this guy the other day and he said he took a skateboarding class as an adult and I wa

s  like okay that should be illegal that should be illegal I'm sorry a bunch of men in their late  20s and early 30s people not men anyone that age range learning how to escape by a teacher people  came out in drobes and I'm going add myself to the numbers saying that no one's ever too old to  learn a hobby and often adults pick up Hobbies they always wanted to but couldn't pursue earlier  for whatever reasons I also saw the point which I very much do agree with is that picking up Hobbies  espec

ially as an adult is really a way to create community because it is a lot harder to make  friends as an adult and a lot of us adults and even teenagers kids I would argue say that we're  loner than ever nowadays and it's so much easier to make buddies with somebody if you guys are  united around a similar interest or if you're both learning something new together because it's  easy to bom with someone that way and I feel like the lack thereof of hobbies potentially could tie  into people's longi

ng for third places and not to say that every single third place is related to a  hobby but quite a few of them are and I feel like I and probably other people at the point where  it's like oh I'm going to spend 30 $40 $50 at the club on some cheap cocktails and like a night  out that's not even that fun would it not be more worth it to spend that same amount of money on  like dues for a club like an activity based club that is related to my hobby and it's going to  teach me something new and ma

ybe connect me with people who are more willing to talk and Converse  with me and that Creator's judgment over the man learning to skateboard reminded me of like a few  months ago when I was talking about the concept of cringe and how posting about your hobbies online  even if you are trying to find Community through that posting it can open you up to a lot of the  judgments a lot of the unwarranted criticisms often just from people online who may not even  be related to that hobby or in that su

bculture that you're trying to build community within also  in this conversation of hobbies especially ones that require materials is this idea of overc  consumption like can something be a hobby if consumption is at its core is it a problem if your  hobby requires a lot of consumption questions of the like collections are a big example and I'm  really intrigued by this topic because I don't fully know where I stand or where for sure think  a collection stops and over consuming or hoarding begin

s in response to the Stanley Cup craze there  was discourse that people have the tendency to consume in place of an identity or Hobby in hopes  of it becoming a shortcut to that same sense of fulfillment on one hand I can understand the  perspective that collecting staning cups makes no sense because the point is to have one that  way you're not using a bunch of containers but you could argue at least I could use all 20 of  my Stanley Cups even if it's unlikely but if I collect a rocks for examp

le what use would I  I have for those a difference I can personally see is maybe the reason you began the collection  or the motivation behind collecting like whether it's for a Sentimental or spontaneous reason  versus just trying to keep up with the trend that went viral I've also seen people say what  makes something a collection and the hobby part of it is the actual time spent hunting for the  items the actual curation of them not just going to one place and buying all the colors and  quant

ity that you want and for example I had a quarter collection as a kid like where you try  and collect one from all 50 states and because I was a kid back when people still use cash and  change pretty often I was able to make the collection organically I don't have it anymore I  honestly spent all those [ __ ] by middle school but say if I just went online and bought quarters  from all 50 states put them in my book and called it a day does that make it less of a collection  or is it still a colle

ction and even if it is does it no longer count as a hobby interested  to hear your thoughts on this also so now I want to revisit the coastal Grandma aesthetic  and the idea of Aesthetics as a whole there's a whole bunch of discourse now about how people  especially younger people are trying to form their identities and trying to do so by applying  these Aesthetics to themselves be it the mob wife the coastal Grandma eclectic Grandpa whatever  any of the above and since these Aesthetics can hav

e specific clothing styles and accessories  related to them now often marketed through social media people try to chase an aesthetic or  identity through consumption rather than lived experience or an interest in that subculture  Beyond aesthetic certain Hobbies can create an entire Community or even a subculture and in  turn that can inform how you present yourself or how you create your quote unquote aesthetic  by taking the Hobbies out of it or trying to create the identity through consumptio

n rather  than experience it's like working backwards and it's maybe why that aesthetic doesn't feel as  authentic or fulfilling because it's not tied to any genuine interest or the way you live  your life dayto day so then you chase that next aesthetic thinking the heart of the problem  is that you're really an office siren and not a coconut Girl and also a lot of the times when we  bring these hobbies to social media because of the Judgment there can be a need even if the hobby  is genuine to

overperform and present yourself as the archetype of someone who enjoys that hobby  less you be called a poser because to be honest in several cases there actually isn't a specific  way that a person who enjoys or participates in a specific thing looks I have seen people bring up  the aspect that while they may have a hobby it's hard for it to feel like an escape or feel low  stakes because there's this pressure to turn your hobby into a side hustle which is very real on  our capitalist hellscap

e and so it can be hard to stay in that mindset of creating or contributing  just for the sake of it rather than any higher purpose than pure enjoyment I was trying to think  of media depictions of people without hobbies and though I have not seen succession that example  came up a lot so y'all will have to confirm that one for me I was going to make a joke and be like  wow without Hobbies we'd be like the kins in the Barbie movie and they kind of made a point about  how useless the kins were be

cause they weren't as accomplished as Barbie's and had nothing to do  really but then I was like wait Barbie has a bunch of jobs and Ken actually does have a hobby it's  just like beach or surfing I guess and then I was like does Barbie canonically have hobbies outside  of the thousands of jobs she has and apparently Barbie's hobby is shopping or more so fashion and  just learning about and catching up on the latest trends personally whenever I think of somebody  in media who has a hobby it's al

ways going to be Miss Raven Baxter and her passion for fashion  and I was thinking more about people who don't have hobbies in media this gym this gym I dropped  out in the fourth grade to run drugs to support my Nano that means you haven't known the triumphs  defeats the Epic highs and lows of high school football personally I'm glad that I got back into  my hobbies because I realized I was having maybe a bit of a problem when every other sentence I  started when talking to somebody you know fa

ce to face was like oh I saw a Tik Tok that said  this I read a tweet that said that of course it's going to come up in conversation but when  I say that was basically the only thing I had to bring up or talk about I was like I need to  reassess what I'm doing with my life something I've never really thought about until recently is  that just engaging in Hobbies it does give give you more of a sense of control over your life  because it's like yeah I'm responsible for my own algorithm or what ha

ve you but that doesn't  mean I can control what post I see next when I'm scrolling down my explore page for you page and  then extending that to your to like real life so to speak it's like maybe you can't move out  of that house immediately maybe you can't quit that job immediately but in your little bits of  free time wherever you get it you can actually choose what you want to create what you want to  participate in what you want to engage in back in 2016 the Houston Press published an artic

le titled  your entertain pment choices aren't your identity I really thought it would tie more into the idea  that you can't put the cart before the horse or the aesthetic before the hobby or the lifestyle  and give a take on that before it became the Hot Topic that it is now but I feel like it fits in  more with the Paras socialism aspect because the article discusses how it is so important to have  a hobby and that entertainment related interests are not inherently bad but overly consuming on

e  thing is detrimental and consumes your identity likely Without You consciously realizing and I  have to share this paragraph because it is so well written the author Jeffer writes Mass  consumption of things also tends to bestow an unearned sense of expertise on the consumable  to stick with the geek subjects playing hours of video games or reading stacks of comics goes from  being a diversion to being an investment in your personal worth it has to be for something and it's  exactly where gat

ekeeping comes from all this does is up the anti on how much a person has traded  his own sense of self for shares in something he doesn't truly owned only consumed if what's being  consumed has a history of being marketed towards a specific and fairly homogeneous demographic it  gets even worse dragging tribalism and othering into the conversation consumption becomes a  resource to be protected against Invaders I and I'm sure a lot of you guys see this salot  online typically in regards to a sp

ecific pop star or artist because that is similar to a lot of  the content I consume where a family will cash and their time spent consuming something in exchange  for Authority when that's not always an even exchange and again we come back to this point as  roner quotes in his article how much of your time has spent consuming things other people have made  TV music video games or websites versus making your own only one of those adds to your value as  a human being and like I have already point

ed out I'm just not sure how much I can agree with this  and maybe I'm taking it too literally to black and white because I do think in several cases there  are books that I've read films that I've watched even a quote that I've read so obviously I consume  that that was way more valuable that changed my life in a more positive way than something that I  might have created and then also I'm sure everyone has made at least one or a few things in their  life but not everybody wants to identify as

a Creator nor does everybody have to and I also  do think in a sense in a lot of aspects to be a decent to be a talented Creator you do have to  be somewhat of a good consumer like for example the Best Authors the best writers are the people  who consume or read a lot of books because they're getting the practice because they're learning the  conventions and so once they do that they're able to take the training wheels off and show us their  own work and their own creativity and as always I am j

ust I feel like there's going to be some  arguments in the comments some debate hopefully some healthy debates I'm so eager to hear your  thoughts like do you think content consumption is a hobby or are you kind of like it could  be in some instances but just laying on the bed just scrolling scrolling scrolling maybe  you wouldn't necessarily count that and then more generally what are your thoughts what makes  a hobby is it something that has to be actively done where a product is made I have s

omething  to show you like here's my hobby here's what I did here's the result or do you think it can be  something that is quote unquote passive I.E I don't know why I said I.E out loud I've never  done that before but like innocent nothing is made nothing tangible is produced but I walked  away with some knowledge with some insight but of course as always no matter where you fall  in the conversation on the Spectrum drop your comments and your opinions down below that way  we can chat as we al

ways do as always thank you so much for watching be sure to like comment and  subscribe so you can stick around for more also make sure you follow me on Twitter if you want  to keep up with me there and if you'd like to become a channel member and get early access  to videos the link is in the description again thank you so much for watching I love you all so  very much and we'll see you so very soon bye-bye