I often do things 'the long way round'. "Why don't you get a guy with a mini-digger to do that?" I was once asked ... "Well" I replied "I like digging ...".
As one who studied computer science and math leading to a successful career working in IT - very challenging, intellectually stimulating, always changing - it was never quite the same as creating something real. Virtual creativity is wonderful in a unique and abstract way, but hobbies to make physical things certainly have value and for many are no longer experienced which is sad.
Thank you Colin for another insightful exploration.
I agree we've taken the concept of work ethic to its final extreme, "Leisure was rebranded as “personal development,” hobbies as “potential revenue streams."
But I suspect this like everything else is just part of the cycle. It is the very results of this path toward technologizing everything (what do you think about that new word :) ), that will lead us back to the power of hobby for hobby sake. If we are to believe that AI and robots, supported by UBI, will put work in the hands of the technology and leave us with nothing to do with our time and creativity, then maybe this is actually the hidden blessing. We can return to those activities that we actually love doing for doing sake because money and trade will no longer have the same incentives. Perhaps this is what abundance becomes - time to do what we want - not because we can sell it - but because we can share it freely with each other as a reflection of our growth and love for doing it.
I did needlepoint during one of my burnout years, while recovering between career positions. It was fabulous. The projects became more intricate as I improved. The results of the projects turned into gifts for family members and friends. They didn't love them and put them on the wall because they had intrinsic value, they did it because the projects were personal - and they showed up when the work was done - as a gift, not as something with a deadline.
Perhaps the baby boomers are the last generation to even know what hobbies are. It would be a shame for them to disappear completely. But I suspect the human spirit and desire to create will eventually re-ignite hobbies in the hearts and minds of future generations. It's in our DNA and will eventually return. I trust the cycle.
IRL, non-digital, real world, old school, adventure, going dark, scraping the knuckles - all of those phrases are the indicators of the offline activities I urge people to pursue. I wrote software for 30 years, and getting the hands off the keyboard kept me sane.
I write about a lot of those activities because they are the answer to that hypnotized state I call Severed Conscience that I observe from overuse of social media. I just wrote about how my family goes old world for our celebrations. I share these experiences because I hear a lot desperation in Millennials and Gen-Z who have had helicopter parents and not enough "risk" in their lives. I've been fortunate to grow up in an era where we went skiing, camping, hiking, played in bands because that's how we filled our time, and if we didn't, someone would fill it for us, with work.
I used to tell my son "Video games tell you when you're done, but when you have your Legos or projects, YOU are the one in charge, and you decide when you're finished". That's not to say he and I didn't "waste time" on YouTube, but we would find the coolest projects, like this guy from France who did AMAZING stop motion animation, by hand. My son and I tried a few times, it was SO difficult, but it made you realize that not every thing is just an easy app you buy. Life should be hard because that's how you obtain skill to make it not so hard.
Out of nostalgia I'm posting the vids from the French dude as well.
"Deadlines replaced reverie. Metrics replaced meaning. Her hands still moved, but they moved differently, as if laboring under a silent, invisible overseer."
This is the disease of artists of every kind. What might have once been a joyful (albeit, sometimes painful) struggle to create, transforms into even more painful transactional commodity.
"Our culture now exalts the “side hustle” as if leisure, too, must be yoked to the engine of productivity."
Much of this is the result of "inequality", or what I prefer to call inequity, or better still iniquity. Struggling for barebones survival, for mere subsistence, is somehow unfulfilling - at best. We're always looking for ways to supplement our paltry paychecks.
"It is as if leisure itself is becoming a moral failure."
A concept promoted forcefully by our corporate overlords.
//
Ah yes, the smell of balsa wood! I know it well. As a child I build an arsenal of model rockets. The thrill of seeing these marvelous machines shaping up, exceeded only by the thrill of the sudden "woosh" of the motors following ignition and the sleek tube rapidly accelerating into the sky. Then the parachute popping open and the whole thing drifting gently (hopefully) back down to Earth.
My hobbies revolve around reading and walking or hiking. Your post reminded me of a book I read a few years ago that deeply resonated with me: Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry into the Value of Work(https://tinyurl.com/3f67awym).
One quote from the book that stuck with me highlights the importance of engaging with the world through physical, hands-on work:
“Without the opportunity to learn through the hands, the world remains abstract, and distant, and the passions for learning will not be engaged.”
This ties beautifully into another quote I came across recently, this time from Alexandre Kojève, that made me think about the relationship between work and self-realization: “The man who works recognizes his own product in the World that has actually been transformed by his work: he recognizes himself in it, he sees in it his own human reality, in it he discovers and reveals to others the objective reality of his humanity, of the originally abstract and purely subjective idea he has of himself.”
For me, work—like hobbies—is a path to self-discovery. Both shape who we are and, in turn, shape the world around us. They reflect what we value and how much effort we are willing to put into what we care about. I’ve observed that you can often understand a person’s character simply by seeing how they approach their work and the quality of what they produce.
My father instilled in me the value of observation. He taught me that if you see someone doing something better than you, take note and make it your way of doing that work. His wisdom emphasized that life is too short to learn everything independently. Observing experts allows us to absorb new skills and refine our approach without starting from scratch.
This mindset has shaped my perspective on learning. I believe that learning never truly stops—it’s a lifelong process. Every interaction, whether through work, hobbies, or simply observing others, is an opportunity to gain knowledge, improve, and grow. Each moment holds the potential to teach us something new, and it’s up to us to remain open to those lessons.
Another topic you mentioned resonates with me: measuring or counting our efforts. While tracking progress can validate our sense of accomplishment, it can also strip away the joy and spontaneity of hobbies. For instance, I record the number of books I read each year—not to compete with myself or others, but to ensure balance; I want to read fiction and nonfiction and simultaneously diversify the topics I explore. Still, I’ve found that this tracking hasn’t necessarily increased my reading; instead, it has helped me maintain a sense of intentionality.
I believe hobbies should be pursued for personal satisfaction and joy, not to measure achievements or impress others. They are meant to enrich our lives, not to become another metric to track or a task to complete.
To end, the following quote by Lawrence Pearsall Jacks sums up how I generally feel about learning, observing, working, and pursuing hobbies as paths to personal growth and fulfillment.
“A master in the art of living draws no sharp distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his education, and his recreation. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence through whatever he is doing and leaves others to determine whether he is working or playing. To himself he always seems to be doing both. Enough for him that he does it well.”
Yes. And I like to think much of human "last mile" knowledge, things AI will never know, comes from hobbies.
Your essay on the last mile is essential reading
Well said, and oh so true.
I'm heading to read your article of the same name ;)
I often do things 'the long way round'. "Why don't you get a guy with a mini-digger to do that?" I was once asked ... "Well" I replied "I like digging ...".
Haha brilliant, good exercise too:-)
As one who studied computer science and math leading to a successful career working in IT - very challenging, intellectually stimulating, always changing - it was never quite the same as creating something real. Virtual creativity is wonderful in a unique and abstract way, but hobbies to make physical things certainly have value and for many are no longer experienced which is sad.
Thank you Colin for another insightful exploration.
I agree we've taken the concept of work ethic to its final extreme, "Leisure was rebranded as “personal development,” hobbies as “potential revenue streams."
But I suspect this like everything else is just part of the cycle. It is the very results of this path toward technologizing everything (what do you think about that new word :) ), that will lead us back to the power of hobby for hobby sake. If we are to believe that AI and robots, supported by UBI, will put work in the hands of the technology and leave us with nothing to do with our time and creativity, then maybe this is actually the hidden blessing. We can return to those activities that we actually love doing for doing sake because money and trade will no longer have the same incentives. Perhaps this is what abundance becomes - time to do what we want - not because we can sell it - but because we can share it freely with each other as a reflection of our growth and love for doing it.
I did needlepoint during one of my burnout years, while recovering between career positions. It was fabulous. The projects became more intricate as I improved. The results of the projects turned into gifts for family members and friends. They didn't love them and put them on the wall because they had intrinsic value, they did it because the projects were personal - and they showed up when the work was done - as a gift, not as something with a deadline.
Perhaps the baby boomers are the last generation to even know what hobbies are. It would be a shame for them to disappear completely. But I suspect the human spirit and desire to create will eventually re-ignite hobbies in the hearts and minds of future generations. It's in our DNA and will eventually return. I trust the cycle.
IRL, non-digital, real world, old school, adventure, going dark, scraping the knuckles - all of those phrases are the indicators of the offline activities I urge people to pursue. I wrote software for 30 years, and getting the hands off the keyboard kept me sane.
I write about a lot of those activities because they are the answer to that hypnotized state I call Severed Conscience that I observe from overuse of social media. I just wrote about how my family goes old world for our celebrations. I share these experiences because I hear a lot desperation in Millennials and Gen-Z who have had helicopter parents and not enough "risk" in their lives. I've been fortunate to grow up in an era where we went skiing, camping, hiking, played in bands because that's how we filled our time, and if we didn't, someone would fill it for us, with work.
I used to tell my son "Video games tell you when you're done, but when you have your Legos or projects, YOU are the one in charge, and you decide when you're finished". That's not to say he and I didn't "waste time" on YouTube, but we would find the coolest projects, like this guy from France who did AMAZING stop motion animation, by hand. My son and I tried a few times, it was SO difficult, but it made you realize that not every thing is just an easy app you buy. Life should be hard because that's how you obtain skill to make it not so hard.
Out of nostalgia I'm posting the vids from the French dude as well.
https://culturalcourage.substack.com/p/no-safety-net-no-internet-cabinet
https://youtu.be/2r1WasN5JFQ?si=bQsQNH9a1DlPoXRZ
The making of - https://youtu.be/cBp85mJZHOg?si=d8K6WXjeCZayLG5I
As a software programming hobbyist, this comparison falls flat for me.
Building software feels exactly like craft hobbies.
You're fighting the reality of your computer. Outdated libraries. Database version mismatches. Tasks that take 10x longer
Useless programming is a great hobby
"Deadlines replaced reverie. Metrics replaced meaning. Her hands still moved, but they moved differently, as if laboring under a silent, invisible overseer."
This is the disease of artists of every kind. What might have once been a joyful (albeit, sometimes painful) struggle to create, transforms into even more painful transactional commodity.
"Our culture now exalts the “side hustle” as if leisure, too, must be yoked to the engine of productivity."
Much of this is the result of "inequality", or what I prefer to call inequity, or better still iniquity. Struggling for barebones survival, for mere subsistence, is somehow unfulfilling - at best. We're always looking for ways to supplement our paltry paychecks.
"It is as if leisure itself is becoming a moral failure."
A concept promoted forcefully by our corporate overlords.
//
Ah yes, the smell of balsa wood! I know it well. As a child I build an arsenal of model rockets. The thrill of seeing these marvelous machines shaping up, exceeded only by the thrill of the sudden "woosh" of the motors following ignition and the sleek tube rapidly accelerating into the sky. Then the parachute popping open and the whole thing drifting gently (hopefully) back down to Earth.
My hobbies revolve around reading and walking or hiking. Your post reminded me of a book I read a few years ago that deeply resonated with me: Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry into the Value of Work(https://tinyurl.com/3f67awym).
One quote from the book that stuck with me highlights the importance of engaging with the world through physical, hands-on work:
“Without the opportunity to learn through the hands, the world remains abstract, and distant, and the passions for learning will not be engaged.”
This ties beautifully into another quote I came across recently, this time from Alexandre Kojève, that made me think about the relationship between work and self-realization: “The man who works recognizes his own product in the World that has actually been transformed by his work: he recognizes himself in it, he sees in it his own human reality, in it he discovers and reveals to others the objective reality of his humanity, of the originally abstract and purely subjective idea he has of himself.”
For me, work—like hobbies—is a path to self-discovery. Both shape who we are and, in turn, shape the world around us. They reflect what we value and how much effort we are willing to put into what we care about. I’ve observed that you can often understand a person’s character simply by seeing how they approach their work and the quality of what they produce.
My father instilled in me the value of observation. He taught me that if you see someone doing something better than you, take note and make it your way of doing that work. His wisdom emphasized that life is too short to learn everything independently. Observing experts allows us to absorb new skills and refine our approach without starting from scratch.
This mindset has shaped my perspective on learning. I believe that learning never truly stops—it’s a lifelong process. Every interaction, whether through work, hobbies, or simply observing others, is an opportunity to gain knowledge, improve, and grow. Each moment holds the potential to teach us something new, and it’s up to us to remain open to those lessons.
Another topic you mentioned resonates with me: measuring or counting our efforts. While tracking progress can validate our sense of accomplishment, it can also strip away the joy and spontaneity of hobbies. For instance, I record the number of books I read each year—not to compete with myself or others, but to ensure balance; I want to read fiction and nonfiction and simultaneously diversify the topics I explore. Still, I’ve found that this tracking hasn’t necessarily increased my reading; instead, it has helped me maintain a sense of intentionality.
I believe hobbies should be pursued for personal satisfaction and joy, not to measure achievements or impress others. They are meant to enrich our lives, not to become another metric to track or a task to complete.
To end, the following quote by Lawrence Pearsall Jacks sums up how I generally feel about learning, observing, working, and pursuing hobbies as paths to personal growth and fulfillment.
“A master in the art of living draws no sharp distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his education, and his recreation. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence through whatever he is doing and leaves others to determine whether he is working or playing. To himself he always seems to be doing both. Enough for him that he does it well.”