tanteI wonder if this trend of "Kidults" (as in adults buying toys or having other very "child-like" hobbies and preferences) is fueled by how little pathways to joy we leave to adults so many revert back to when Ninja Turtles made them happy.
If you actually like toys or Cartoons or whatever, go apeshit. (I also love me some Invader Zim and other things). But It feels a bit regressive when the only path to joy is leading backwards and not in the present or the future.
Jan Bretschneider@tante what about hobbies? Reading, knitting, painting, playing board games, dancing, cycling, hiking, swimming?
@bertvaneub sure there are those. But look at hoe they are framed: "You go swimming to be in competitions or for your fitness", reading is often framed as "education" and not joy (and literature that's really focused on job/fun is looked down upon).
The activities exist but what happens if you do them? How are you seen?
The activities exist but what happens if you do them? How are you seen?
@tante when I go swimming, I see a lot of people meeting, chatting, hanging out together, simply enjoying themselves. Same with reading, considering what books I see when I visit our library. So, no, the competition you seem to. experience is just the frame "they" imposed on you. Free yourself ;) sentire aude!
MinmiTheDinoThis is such an interesting discussion because
1) I don’t begrudge anyone their childlike hobbies if it brings them joy
2) I do think holding fast to childlike hobbies can make you miss the deeper, richer experiences of things adults can do and love, like literature or highly skilled crafts (among others)
3) I experience none of this contempt of hobbies that you seem to. In fact one of my favorite things about mastodon is the skill so many people put into their hobbies, and I feel like I admire them so much and so do others. I wonder how much is cultural and how much is internalized for both of us.
benz@tante @bertvaneub Repeat after me: the point of a hobby is not to be good at it, or to be useful, or to be the best, the point is that you enjoy doing it.
aacUR8@bentsukun @tante @bertvaneub this is kind of the approach I take. When I pick up my bass guitar it's because playing it brings me joy. I'm long past the opportune time to become a rock star. But there are few things in life that make me feel quite so good as playing along to a song, working on my own or playing with people.
Sebastian Hans@tante @bertvaneub If you care about how you are seen doing something, everything becomes performative, no matter what you do. This is self-defeating. For example, I practice Aikido. I'm sure there are many people who see martial arts as the ultimate competition. But that's not why I do it. And it's not why the people I am practicing with do it. I am not responsible for other people's misconceptions, and I'm certainly not going to let them dictate what I derive joy from.
CassandraVert@tante @bertvaneub I used to take dance classes. It did involve some cost, but not crazy. There were a bunch of adults with me, and none of us ever expected to be professional. So I suppose we were all there to have fun.
People don't think of me when I read because they don't see me.
People don't think of me when I read because they don't see me.
My mother told me when I was a teenager that when I became an adult, I would put aside the things I loved. I never understood why, so I never did.
Jeremy List@CassandraVert Now that I'm an adult I have to balance the things I love because I just don't get enough time every day for all of them.