What Is Millennial Hobby Energy?

Doing things for fun is making a comeback. That may seem like an odd statement, but there is a time in many people’s lives when everything feels too busy to indulge in hobbies. When we get that inevitable question of what we do for fun, often the answer starts with the saddest statement ever: what I used to do is _______.

According to writer Anne Helen Peterson, many millennials have “trudged through burnout and are trying to figure out who they are outside of work.” This leads many toward spending time on non-monetized hobbies, something that was demonized for much of their younger years:

Hobbies that didn’t produce something, or help someone, establish you as superlative, or in some way highlight your entrepreneurial spirit weren’t really hobbies at all. They were fucking around: invisible, if not altogether shameful.

Now those hobbies are making a comeback and as work increasingly gets more automated and the idea of finding more life purpose gains attention, it’s easy to imagine this trend toward hobbies not only continuing but accelerating. Which leads to a slight revision to the question I shared before … what do you do for fun now?