It has a lot to do with not understanding the other person's motivations. If a person's hobby doesn't interest you, but you can see the lucrative value of said hobby, one might be compelled to suggest making said hobby a career.
I think this is a prevalent phenomenon because most people don't actually have hobbies if you disqualify food and entertainment. Some of them will have a passing interesting in something, but unless they spend some money on it, that can hardly be called a hobby. People who have actual hobbies probably understand why another person doesn't want to make a career out of their hobby, but those who have no hobbies likely don't get it and see the hobby as the seed for some kind of dream job.
The way society views hobbies has gotten worse due to things like hustle culture, the artificial celebritydom of social media, and the devaluement of being hands-on with things that comes with living in a highly industrialized society.
> It has a lot to do with not understanding the other person's motivations. If a person's hobby doesn't interest you, but you can see the lucrative value of said hobby, one might be compelled to suggest making said hobby a career.
Yeah, this is a big annoyance to my wife. She does knitting, sewing, other fiber arts. When speaking to other non-crafty types, almost always the first thing they say is "you should sell your pieces!" or "can you make me X for $Y?" Her response is always a hard no. This is something she does for fun and to share with friends and family. It's not a job.
Similarly, I did programming as a hobby growing up. I turned it into a career, and now it's the last thing I want to do in my spare time. This was actually kind of a difficulty, I had to go find new things to do for fun. Now I do woodworking and guitar and spend very little time on computers at home!
My mom has the same problem. She got into wood carving, found she's really talented at it, has done some pieces on commission and gets paid extremely well when she does. But to her it's a hobby and not a job. My dad kind of knows this but still keeps suggesting she do things like keep social media accounts, etc., and to do things that would maximize her "business". Why he keeps doing this, I dunno. He's an engineer type so I think he also just gets satisfaction out of optimizing things. My mom would however like to just do it whenever she feels like it and only do so much commission work that she would be able to take her time on it and take vacations without being on the hook, and of course to still actually enjoy the craft without being concerned about making money or constantly improving efficiency (which is counter to artistry).
> Similarly, I did programming as a hobby growing up. I turned it into a career, and now it's the last thing I want to do in my spare time.
Yeah, it's hard to keep up. When I was a junior programmer making my own stuff and putting it on Github was really exciting. Now it's challenging to get the motivation to do it as a hobby even if I know I've got a good idea I want to work on. Once you get to senior level as a software engineer, a lot of the joy kind of disappears. Since seniors are looked to in order to solve the really hard problems, as well as clean up the worst messes, our brains just get exposed to the worst sides of programming and I think part of us realizes how much code is simply wasteful.
My sister in law does this stuff as a business. It’s a weird look to be honest. As family I know more than most. She grinds in a sweat shop room in her house. Never cooks, cleans, or helps with raising her kid unless it’s selling apparel for a sports league, scouts, etc. It’s different though, she’s addicted to the attention of it all and being a “small business owner”. Once I asked her some details on the operations and she’s earning the equivalent of $2/hr on her time invested and she’s been at it for like 15+ years, it’s weird.
Some folks really enjoy food, though. They might spend a lot of time learning new recipes, spend 12 hours smoking a piece of meat, make things from scratch, make more than they could ever eat (and give away to friends)... seek out new restaurants, hell, even travel for the cuisine. Ditto entertainment-- movie buffs and the like.
You might also disqualify hobbies you don't consider a hobby. If I go for a run every saturday morning, is running a hobby? Or am I just a fitness freak? I think sometimes what folks do 'for fun' is either dismissed, or considered something you kind of have to do / should do anyway.
> Some folks really enjoy food, though. They might spend a lot of time learning new recipes, spend 12 hours smoking a piece of meat, make things from scratch, make more than they could ever eat (and give away to friends)... seek out new restaurants, hell, even travel for the cuisine. Ditto entertainment-- movie buffs and the like.
Yes, I absolutely agree. I wasn't referring to those people, but I can understand how it would have come off that way.
What I'm saying is that if one doesn't engage with an experience, it's really hard to call said thing a hobby. Binge watching shows, for instance, is only participatory in that the person pays an entrance fee and that they keep their eyes pointed at the screen. Same for eating; eating lots of good food doesn't equate to being a hobby but is more of a mere activity or an interest. But learning recipes, learning to smoke meat, etc., now we're talking about engaging in an activity rather than passively accepting sensory stimuli.
> You might also disqualify hobbies you don't consider a hobby. If I go for a run every saturday morning, is running a hobby? Or am I just a fitness freak? I think sometimes what folks do 'for fun' is either dismissed, or considered something you kind of have to do / should do anyway.
It's also in the eye of the beholder. I can't really tell an individual what is or isn't their hobby. Sensibly, not everything a human being does can be a hobby, and I think engaging in an activity with some kind of feedback loop is a sign of a hobby. Investing in that activity is also a sign of a hobby. Running can certainly be a hobby IMO because it takes an investment of time and effort, and people who run or perform exercise are usually paying at least some attention to their performance. Running merely because one thinks they have to run, on the other hand, doesn't seem like much of a hobby, but a change in mindset could instantaneously change said running from a chore to a hobby.
It also might just be used as a compliment. “Wow, I love this cake so much I would pay money for it”. Not my favorite complement but I see it used that way.
They're all hobbies, just with varying levels of passivity. I think a lifestyle of absolute inaction leaves people dissatisfied and unhealthy, but it's very readily rationalized much the way addicts do, now infused with bs Marie Kondo lingo like "it sparks joy". Not that I have anything good to say about hustle culture.
Passivity is antithetical to whether something is a hobby. I don't think the vast majority of people who participate in the common culture of film, TV, food, social media, and travel consider those things to be their hobbies. And rightfully so, because all they are doing is paying for temporary access to something they aren't actually engaging with. If, on the other hand, a person watches movies in order to analyze and critique them, they are entering hobbydom as they are engaging with the subject rather than turning their brain off.
> Passivity is antithetical to whether something is a hobby.
Maybe it should be, but I don't think that reflects what the broader culture believes. Add to the fact, you can't reliably determine the threshold at which something is active enough.
That's a very complex statement because I think what a reasonable person, when asked in the proper setting, would say is that those things aren't hobbies. But if you were to ask some Joe or Jane in sunglasses and shorts whether they're hobbies, they'll probably respond "sure, why not?" Both groups are aspects of the broader culture, so it's really difficult to truly say what the broader culture believes about this and whose position is actually valid.
> Add to the fact, you can't reliably determine the threshold at which something is active enough.
Yeah, it's ultimately up to the individual to determine whether something is a hobby. There are some standards we can have around the shared utility of that word, though. Pretty much anything can have a capacity for being a hobby, though some can be more dubious than others.
> It has a lot to do with not understanding the other person's motivations. If a person's hobby doesn't interest you, but you can see the lucrative value of said hobby, one might be compelled to suggest making said hobby a career.
That's a really interesting point I never considered. I guess people with no interest in an area would certainly be more likely to see the financial side of things rather than the actual... well hobby part. Also gonna admit I've been guilty of that myself, and have only quite recently realised that it may have been a tad overbearing.
I think this is a prevalent phenomenon because most people don't actually have hobbies if you disqualify food and entertainment. Some of them will have a passing interesting in something, but unless they spend some money on it, that can hardly be called a hobby. People who have actual hobbies probably understand why another person doesn't want to make a career out of their hobby, but those who have no hobbies likely don't get it and see the hobby as the seed for some kind of dream job.
The way society views hobbies has gotten worse due to things like hustle culture, the artificial celebritydom of social media, and the devaluement of being hands-on with things that comes with living in a highly industrialized society.