Ask Lemmy

Have you heard of lemmy? It's s pretty good time waster. Also, crochet, woodworking, reading, pets, duolingo, learning a fun cheaper instrument like bongos, ukulele, or cajon.

Hiking, cycling, photography, reading, video games, chilling in a hammock, going out to eat, cooking, writing, watching movies or shows, and obsessively learning about some new hobby I will inevitably lose interest in and then pick back up in a year or so.

With friends: D&D or board/card/tabletop games. Pick a night and get together every week or whatever works for everyone. Play the same game or something different each week. Settlers of Catan and Cards Against Humanity are other games that jump to mind for me.

Generally: read, write/paint/draw/model/etc., learn to play an instrument, cook/bake, learn something new via podcast or videos. Most of these things can be done with others if you choose.

Exercise! If you can integrate that into your routine or even identity, you can get a lifelong benefit. But it has to be fun, since you want to make it a hobby. Try joining a dancing class, rock climbing, boxing gym, jogging group, or whatever you can do for fun. I'm unique because I play DanceDanceRevolution, which gives a explicit reason to improve my stamina and aerobic capacity. 45 minutes on a treadmill goes by fast with rhythm game music.

For partner activites, get into a boardgame group! I'm talking Carcassonne, Coup, One Night Werewolf, and an infinite many more. Some gamestores have a place to play TCGs and offer some demo games to play. There's probably a group there or online looking for an player, especially in college towns.

I like embroidery, baking and cooking, exercising, and jigsaw puzzles. I just started my biggest one ever -- 5000 pieces. It takes up about half of our living room floor, but we don't have a table big enough.

My husband and I play Scrabble together, and have for the past 19 years. I even made our wedding cake topper to be two people playing Scrabble. We also have a notebook that keeps up with our scores, and unfortunately it notes that I've been on a losing streak lately!

As a family, with our 14yo, they like to go birding (it's not my thing), or we play cards or board games.

I’d consider cars as a (expensive) hobby of mine… So doing work on my vehicles or driving. I kill tons of time doing that.

More of a passion, falconry. I'm in deep. It's really a lifestyle, basically when making a life decision I think about how it will effect my falconry.

Here's one of my goobers:

Similar situation - I’d been at a job for about 10 years that robbed me of all of my time, but didn’t pay me enough to comfortably stay home or take vacations.

I went freelance but current events happened and now I’m home a lot. I beat Elden Ring. I put like 100 hours into Rimworld. Gaming can get super depressing in a concentrated binge, so what I also have done:

1. Backpacking. Nerd out on gear for a week or so, go to REI and drop some money, and go walk for days at a time. I love it. Most recently just did a 15 mile out, sleep, 15 mile back trip and it definitely was good on my brain (rough on my body)

2. DIY tech projects. I had a couple raspberry pis around. One is now a synth / sequencer / workstation with a midi keyboard using the Zynthian OS and the other is going to do some self-hosting.

3. Fixing my furnace. This one isn’t one I recommend.

4. Cigars for me, but any kind of highly indulgent consumable that people like to talk about. Chocolate, wine, cheese, etc.

5. Exploring. You’d be amazed what you can find just walking around. A friend just showed me a crazy underground stream that I’ve been walking over for YEARS now and I had no idea it existed. Going to go check it out.

6. Plants and Birds. I have a front porch. My days of nothing to do usually start with about an hour or so on the porch with a cigar, watching and trying to identify the birds that come to my feeder and admiring the progress of my plants that are growing out there.

I enjoy building LEGO sets. Unfortunately, I can't afford too many and don't have space for large ones. Instead, I buy minifigures, use BrickLink Studio to design "habitats" for them, and then buy the pieces to build these sets.

Solving Rubik's cubes ! There is always more to learn and 100s of different shapes and sizes. I have a pretty large collection myself

Favorite time killer with friends has been gaming, we have had a semi steady group going through different games for many years.

Favorite active activity/passion has been BJJ. Still terrible at it, still can't wait to get back on the mats and get swept again.

Pick up guitar lessons.

Hiking, kayaking, swimming, gardening, and mycology! I love growing Gourmet mushies to eat, as I'm vegetarian and some of the varieties I grow I can't get in my area easily. It's not too hard for some basic mushrooms (blue and pink oysters are where I'd start), and it is fascinating to see the mycelium grow.

Improving my local OSM.

I spin yarn! I have a normal spinning wheel and a small electric, but I prefer spindles. I've just recently worked up the guts to finally touch some of my more luxurious fiber. It's really nice because I can sit down and watch a movie or listen to podcasts and not have to pay attention to my hands and if I get tired of sitting, I can easily walk around with it. I haven't actually knitted (or crocheted) with any of the yarn I've made, but I swear I will, just as soon as I find the perfect pattern.

It's not an expensive hobby to get into either. You can buy a cheap Turkish spindle and some decent wool for under $30 USD or you can even make a drop spindle with a CD and a dowel.

Honestly I'd like to know a good answer to this question too.

When I was in my teens, I was an overachiever; I played in the state team for two different sports, played guitar and wrote songs, got near-perfect grades, and still had time for other shenanigans like skateboarding, screwing around with my friends, blogging, occasionally gaming, gettin' drunk at parties, etc. I was an avid reader too. I don't know how on earth I had time for all of it.

Now I'm 37 and I live alone and work full time. Taking care of my apartment and looking after myself (gym, cooking, shopping, etc.) barely leaves me with enough time left over for the aforementioned screwing around. I don't play guitar anymore, can't play competitive sports anymore due to injuries and stuff. When the weekends roll around I just wanna take myself out for lunch somewhere and then drink in the evenings (I really should break the drinking habit). I enjoy gaming but that too is a hobby that comes and goes for me.

I am for sure guilty of doomscrolling Reddit (now Lemmy) instead of doing more productive things, including reading books.

Others have suggested picking up an instrument. My musical tastes have evolved a lot over the last 20 years but I still listen to music like 12+ hours a day. If you're more into electronic music, maybe consider getting a cheap mixer and learning to mix/beatmatch. I say this as someone who now listens to a LOT of electronic music and bought a mixer for myself a few years ago...but still never really took the time to learn it. It would be the perfect hobby for me cause I get to listen to the music I love and be creative at the same time. But my motivation has been lacking...

Sorry this turned into a personal rant.

Art - for me, usually painting. It sucks time away like no one's business. You look at the clock and hours have gone by.

Building Gundam model kits. Started simple and worked my way up to Master Grades. It’s a cheap hobby and very fulfilling as one has visible, tangible things to do, and they take just the right amount of time to paint and assemble.

I like taking classes to learn new hobbies. I took a woodworking class last year and made a bench and coffee table. This year I took a watercolor class. Didn't keep up with the woodworking because I don't have a shop, but I've been watercoloring a TON since the class ended and I just love it. There's lots of free lessons for all levels on YouTube

Well, you mentioned Zelda so gaming’s accounted for. I also do some writing. I started out doing it in my head/fanfiction-y and eventually published a couple chapters with more to follow eventually. After simmering things around enough, I got some stories that are good/unique enough to begin writing novels about so I also work on those in my spare time. (Plus a few stories that’d work better in webcomic or GB Studio video game format, but I haven’t started practical work on either yet.)

Aside from that, I dabble in Linux/computers and such.

Video games and music are the two things that I usually go back to to waste time or do stuff with. Mostly on the PC because it can handle playing or making both without issue. Edit: well, learning to make one and practicing the other more to start making stuff that isn't just something that rots in the hard drive. probably should have worded it differently lol

One of my go-to's are programming, i rarely play video games these days. I go for walks once in a while haha

As im writing this i have come to the realization that i am a boring person.