TLDR;
This video discusses the importance of hobbies in today's screen-saturated world. It explains how excessive screen time can negatively impact our brains, leading to shorter attention spans and a reduced ability to enjoy real-life experiences. The video then explores how hobbies can counteract these effects by retraining the brain, providing a sense of accomplishment, and fostering overall well-being. It also provides a framework for choosing hobbies that nourish and bring joy, categorising them into creative, intellectual, well-being, and connection-based activities, offering a variety of ideas within each category.
- Hobbies counteract the negative effects of excessive screen time.
- Hobbies can retrain the brain to focus and enjoy real-world experiences.
- Choosing hobbies should focus on enjoyment, recovery, and personal growth.
- Hobbies are categorised into creative, intellectual, well-being, and connection.
Why Hobbies Are More Important Than Ever [1:29]
Hobbies are more important than ever because people spend an average of seven hours a day looking at screens, which can rewire the brain, shorten attention spans, and cause people to constantly reach for their phones when bored. Hobbies can retrain the brain to focus and enjoy the real world. A 2023 study of 93,000 people worldwide found that hobbies improve mood, reduce depression, improve physical health, and increase life satisfaction. Certain hobbies, such as creating art or learning a musical instrument, can increase brain volume and improve memory, potentially reducing the risk of dementia.
The Neuroscience Behind How Hobbies Heal Your ‘Brain Rot’ [2:00]
Social media usage reduces memory, cognitive control, and the ability to focus. Digital anhedonia, the reduced ability to enjoy real-world experiences after prolonged digital saturation, occurs because social media rewires the brain's reward system. The brain restores balance through homeostasis, downregulating dopamine receptors due to the flood of dopamine from social media. This recalibration makes real-world activities seem less rewarding. Hobbies can act as a replacement for social media, providing slow dopamine and serotonin, similar to how lollipops can replace cigarettes for those quitting smoking. Hobbies provide a sense of meaning, purpose, and flow, aligning with the ancient Greek concept of eudaimonia, or human flourishing.
How to Choose Nourishing & Joyful Hobbies [5:55]
When choosing hobbies, consider what you would enjoy and what would bring you joy. The effort recovery theory divides activities into those requiring effort and output and those aiding recovery and input. Business psychologist Joe Win suggests hobbies are great for recovery and proposes four questions to help choose a nourishing hobby: Does it allow psychological detachment from work? Does it promote relaxation and enjoyment? Does it provide a sense of mastery and accomplishment? Does it give a sense of control and agency outside of work? It's important not to feel pressured to turn hobbies into side hustles; the joy of hobbies lies in doing them for their own sake.
Category 1: Creative Hobbies [8:17]
Creative hobbies aren't just for creative people; everyone has a creative spark. The act of creating is more important than the final product. Creative hobbies include painting, drawing, scrapbooking, calligraphy, pottery, video creation, photography, graphic design, baking, cooking, gardening, interior design, flower arrangement, music (singing, playing an instrument, composing, producing), and writing (fiction, creative stories, reflections). For writing, tools like Whisper Flow can help get ideas out quickly by transcribing speech and automatically editing it into clear sentences.
Category 2: Intellectual Hobbies [12:33]
Intellectual input doesn't need to stop after formal education. This category includes reading (fiction, non-fiction) and learning (languages, history, philosophy, any topic of interest). Choose topics that intuitively resonate with you, not just those deemed useful. Engagement with the hobby is more important than the topic itself. Learning can take the form of courses, books, classes, and lessons. Travelling, absorbing new places, cultures, and cuisines, provides new perspectives on life.
Category 3: Wellbeing Hobbies [13:55]
Well-being hobbies include physical, mental, and spiritual activities. Physical activities include dancing (social, solo, ecstatic), yoga, pilates, gym, running, hiking, walking, swimming, and martial arts. Rock climbing combines physical activity and skill. Mental and spiritual activities include meditation, journaling, and breath work. Meditation can be a transformative practice, and journaling helps connect with and understand oneself more deeply.
Category 4: Connection Hobbies [15:28]
Connection hobbies involve connecting with other people, friends, and family. This can include establishing rituals or meetups, such as regular date nights. Plan workout or hobby classes with friends, such as run clubs or pottery classes. Host dinners or lunches regularly, or start a creative club or book club. The key is to have recurring regular touch points, such as weekly dinners or walks.
Your Next Steps (to turn inspiration into action) [16:12]
Turn inspiration into action by identifying two action points after watching the video and writing them down. Consider replacing at least 30 minutes of phone scrolling with a hobby this week and observe how you feel.
