Hobbies as we used to know them are dying.
More and more high schoolers don’t have any hobbies that they practice outside of school, work, and extracurricular activities. There’s this prevailing idea that, especially for upperclassmen, if it can’t be put on a college application, it simply isn't worth doing. To be clear, I'm not saying students aren’t busy. Most high schoolers I know are constantly on their way to some sort of practice or activity. What I am saying is that having hands-on hobbies that are purely for self-enjoyment are becoming increasingly rare.
While I am by no means an expert, I think the death of hobbies has two main perpetrators.
First, there is the high prioritization of achievement above all else. I’m sure that almost everyone has had the experience of not doing something that they enjoy because it doesn’t feel productive. I’d venture to say that every single student has been told by their parents that they need to spend more time doing schoolwork or preparing for exams instead of taking leisure time. This is especially true for upperclassmen, when it feels like anything but 24/7 college prep is wasting your life.
Second, there is the digitization of modern life. Almost all popular hobbies of previous decades, from quilting to model making to bridge, require you to be working with your hands or spending time in-person with other people. But nowadays, when infinite entertainment can be easily found through social media and other apps, spending time and money learning a new hobby feels pointless to many people. And I see the appeal. Social medias are designed to be easily accessible and incredibly addicting, so it’s no wonder that they have become so prevalent. In fact, according to a Pew Research Center survey from 2019, the average teen spends over half of their free time online, a statistic that has only increased during the pandemic.
Young people spending more time on their phones and less time learning hobbies may not seem like a big deal, but it’s having huge effects on people. Overuse of social media has long been associated with lower self esteem and greater feelings of loneliness, especially among high school students. In addition, too many hours spent in front of screens can cause significant eye issues as well as brain development problems in younger people.
This shift affects hobbies themselves as well. Due to the aging population of hobbyists and the lack of young people looking to learn, activities like porcelain doll making and stamp collecting have become almost obsolete, with many more on their way. If nothing changes, hundreds of crafts passed down from generation to generation could die out.
However, nothing is as black and white as it might seem. Though giving up hobbies in order to focus on academic activities may feel like a sacrifice, it can also be vital to your future. Social media may be replacing many hobbies, but it has also contributed to the resurgence of trending hobbies like sewing and knitting. In addition, the internet gave rise to countless entirely new hobbies, like blogging and video gaming. Why it's easy to think that hobbies are dying, in reality, they are just becoming less prioritized and more digitized, and it’s up to you whether that seems like an issue.
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