We used to do things simply because they brought us joy - building models, growing plants, or painting - without calculating the return on investment. Today, career demands and screen time have replaced those pastimes, turning even our free hours into performances tracked by metrics, social media, or monetisation.
Yet research shows that having an unproductive hobby directly boosts happiness and mental well-being.
Reclaiming true leisure doesn't require extra time or expertise; it just means swopping passive scrolling for something you enjoy purely for the fun of it, even if you are terrible at it.
But we might be rediscovering them.
It's about having fun
It could be because we are beginning to realise that entertainment and enjoyment aren't necessarily the same thing.
There is nothing wrong with spending an evening watching television, although watching the Springboks lose to the All Blacks puts a dampener on activities, or scrolling through social media, but there is something different about doing something that requires you to participate.
Gardening requires you to get your hands dirty, photography makes you look at the world differently, building something requires concentration and reading a book asks you to stay with a story rather than flicking past it.
And none of them requires you to be particularly good at them.
We have become remarkably good at turning everything into a performance. If we start running, we need an app to tell us how our body is reacting; if we cycle, we need to know how many kilometres we have covered and if we cook something, there is always the possibility of making it an Instagram post before eating it.
Make the time
Research, however, gives us a good reason to make time for things simply because we enjoy them.
A large international study involving more than 93 000 people aged 65 and older across 16 countries found that having a hobby was associated with fewer depressive symptoms and higher levels of happiness, life satisfaction and self-reported health.
The researchers found the association was remarkably consistent across the countries studied.
That doesn't mean taking up woodworking will magically solve all of life's problems. Nor does it prove that it causes better mental health, but it does suggest that there is something worthwhile about having an activity that exists outside work and everyday obligations.
The problem isn't necessarily that we don't have enough leisure time.
The 2024 American Time Use Survey found that 94% of Americans aged 15 and older participated in some form of leisure or sport activity on an average day. But watching television accounted for an average of 2.6 hours a day, more than half of total leisure time.
People spent considerably less time on activities such as reading, socialising and sport or recreation.
There is an important lesson in that.
Spend your time differently
We don't necessarily need to find another hour in the day; we just need to spend some of the hours we already have differently.
That could mean going back to something we abandoned years ago.
Even something as simple as reading a book instead of watching another episode can make a difference.
The beauty of rediscovering is that you don't have to start from scratch because you already know what it felt like to enjoy it.
And they don't have to become another project.
We don't need to turn gardening into a business, fishing into a YouTube channel or baking into a competition. We don't need to monetise our interests or become experts.
Sometimes it is enough to be terrible at something and enjoy it anyway.
As adults, we have become very good at doing things because they are productive, useful or necessary. We exercise because we should. We work because we have to or shop. After all, the fridge is empty.
Perhaps the next time we find ourselves saying that we are too busy to have fun, we should look back at the things we used to enjoy and choose one.
Not because it will make us healthier, wealthier or more successful, but just because it might make Saturday afternoon a little more enjoyable.
willem.vdputte@nationalmg.co.za