Can you have a hobby without posting about it?

I found this extremely thought provoking about why Millennials don’t have Hobbies.

It is really the culture of side hustles, and making money off anything that could remotely be construed as a hobby. The article goes on to state that:

The definition of a hobby is something that is NOT work.

Heck, even though blog which is a ‘hobby’, is also somewhat a side hustle (though a small one), because it generates ad revenue. I wouldn’t rely on it for my day job by any means, but it isn’t strictly a pursuit just for the sake of it.

WE FEEL THE NEED TO RECORD IT

And even when it is a “hobby” like taking 10,000 steps (walking), or beading, we feel the need to track our progress and post it for the world to see, or else, it seems to not matter. If we can’t talk about it with strangers, to show off what we have done, it is less enjoyable. At least, for me it is.

It reminds me a lot of this very funny meme:

Let’s face it – we don’t go on vacation any more without at least sharing some of it as we are doing it, though I would caution you to NOT post the pictures until they have happened and the day is over. From personal experience, that is how stalkers find you.

EVERYTHING IS A SOCIAL MEDIA COMPETITION

Even reading books, I have discovered, has become a competition (a friendly one) of sorts online. There are hashtags all about reading books, and how many you have read. I think that all of this adds quite a bit of pressure to perform in your said hobby… but is it always a bad thing?

Without this pressure, I wouldn’t be trying to walk more to post results on how much I did today, or to try new things and to let everyone else know.

Maybe that’s the influence of the Digital Age, the inclusion of a new community full of mostly friendly people who just want to cheer you on. I don’t necessarily see this as a bad thing, and I embrace getting messages from others that help me, or make me reconsider positions I hold.

I am deeply grateful to the 15+ years I have had on the internet, blogging on various blogs, and then finally on this one, to have met IRL (in real life) and online, other like-minded folks.

One even became my best friend. 🙂

A lot to think about.

I suspect we have to take a step back sometimes, and assess what it is doing to us mentally, and to take the good parts of it (warm interactions online), as well as trying to limit the bad parts (spiralling into a competition and having self-doubt and low self-esteem creep in to take hold).