AIBU to have no hobbies

[BunTHoven]

Over the years, I’ve noticed a curious pattern across countless threads on here: time and again, the narrative involves the OP - or a close relation, be it a spouse, sibling, or friend - grappling with some issue or entanglement related to a hobby. These pastimes are often alluded to in oblique or cryptic terms, as though their mere mention might unravel anonymity.

AIBU to have no hobbies whatsoever?

I work full-time. I commute. I have two children—one teen and one tween. Even if I did somehow carve out a scrap of time, I genuinely wouldn’t know how to fill it.

Does this make me the odd one out? Or is it that Mumsnet, by some strange gravity, draws to it a disproportionate number of stories where hobbies play a central role?

YABU = having no hobbies is weird AF
YANBU = lots of people don't have a hobby

perhaps you might not call it a hobby but surely you have some interests?
You'd be really boring if you didn't have any preferences in relation to anything at all.
Nobody is so busy they don't do anything other than work and chores. What do you do on a weekend or during annual leave?

even daily things like cooking, walking the dog, going on holiday, managing your savings into investments, etc could be interests you could easily develop into a hobby.

e.g. you like listening to music = try to listen to new bands during your commute and go to watch a live band once or twice a year
cooking/baking = try out new recipes rather than cooking the same thing on rotation
walk the dog = try new places in your local area, or do couch to 5k
exercise = replace part of your commute with a walk or bike ride
reading - use your commute to listen to audiobooks or podcasts - there are ones for literally everything, literature, feminism, crime
watching/reading the news = again, try also listening to a topical podcasts and discuss things on MN or with colleagues = your hobby is now current events/debating

I don't understand your argument.
This thread shows that what some people define as a hobby is different to what others define it as.
Some are saying a hobby is only a hobby if you leave the house to participate in something.
Some are saying a hobby is just whatever you do at home that you enjoy.
Some on this thread are saying "I don't have hobbies - I just read books, have a bubble bath, do crosswords or watch TV" but to me they ARE hobbies or can evolve into a hobby if the person wants it too.
You seem to be dismissing watching TV as something that can only be a lazy slobbing on the sofa thing. It can be. It can also be someone's hobby.

But it still doesn't mean that someone who watches a film on telly will do th " extras" that people stated above

I never said everyone would.

I merely said the majority wouldn't lol. No idea why you are trying to argue the point. If they are just watching a film then it us slobbing in front of the telly. End of. Not sure how you can call it anything else

Recently had Cancer/chemo. Used to.love baking/pub quizzes and so on.now love taking our Dalmatian out for walks .when home knackered! A little nap as well .however some of the people in my Cancer recovery group, 5 mile hiked,crochet, and having all the NDN round once a week!I felt a little feeble. As the Nurse says,everyone is different. If you are at work then you are entitled to relax with Netflix (virgin River anyone) A jolly lady came to Retire, everyone asking what she's going to do.Nothing Came the reply.and I'm not starting that till lunchtime!

So films can only be a hobby if you go to a cinema to watch them?
I'm not sure why I am arguing either.
I think I am just trying to stand up for people who feel sad/left out because they don't think they have a hobby but actually they do - they just don't realise 🙂

I don't have hobbies. I have 6 children, including a 4 month old. I home educate the others, do all household/admin tasks, care for my elderly Dad who has dementia and my husband works away so there is no one else to give me a moment to participate in anything else. I'm not even sure what I would do if I had any spare time!

According to the Cambridge dictionary online, the definition of a hobby is:
an activity that someone does for pleasure when they are not working.

That would therefore include watching TV, watching films, taking long baths, reading, cooking and baking (if they are doing that for pleasure rather than it being an annoying chore) alongside all the other examples on here such as playing in amateur music groups, cycling, yoga etc.

It is so fucking weird that this thread is surely outing.

Do your children have hobbies? Any regular activities they've kept up with? Did you have any as a child?

Why?
No one has mentioned anything especially unusual.

I think you're not unusual at all. I worked full time, some weekends, lots of evenings. Brought up a child mostly single handed, dealt with household dross, garden maintenance and needy elders. Sometimes there was very little time for hobbies.
Some hobbies are no longer economic either. Sewing, knitting, dressmaking are for design, better fi and fun but rarely cost effective.

For some people it's love affairs - remember the Sondheim song lyric 'Bobby is my hobby / And I'm giving him up'.

OP has the moment she said she had no hobbies.

How can that be "outing" though (which was what I was replying to)?

I think it’s about intent. If you’re mindless watching (or mindless scrolling on a phone) to pass time it’s not a hobby. If for example you’re an avid true crime fan and you absorb the information presented to you and reflect on it after / discuss it etc then it’s more of a hobby.

I think it's a bit unusual to have absolutely no hobbies at all. What do you do in the evenings and weekends? If you ever read / do crosswords / puzzles / bake / go walking etc I would consider those to be hobbies.

I know what you mean about having little time because I struggle with that too due to full time work and two small children, but I think if you're regularly doing anything non-essential in the course of a week that constitutes a hobby!

Thank you @CrystalSingerFan for the link to the free Open University courses. I've signed up to the one on the Enlightenment!

I would agree that hobbies have to be something you're engaged in rather than just passively observing. Scrolling Insta/Tiktok on your phone isn't a hobby, but creating videos on whatever topic might be. Mindlessly surfing the internet isn't a hobby, researching your family history online is.

There are periods where life gets busy and you might not have time for 2 hours a day doing open water swimming or a salsa class but that's when you pick up other hobbies you can pick up and put down. For me, that's cross stitch, knitting or other crafts. Personally I don't think "going for a walk" counts as a hobby, but we go geocaching and I'd argue that was.

Because she is the only one who is like that. So any mumsnetter that knows her in real life will automatically know she is the one who created the thread.

Seriously?
There's several people on this thread who are also saying they don't have hobbies.

Totally agree. Every waking hour spent working / school run/ cleaning / shuttling DS to activities. My hobby is getting a full night’s sleep. I try to do that at least three times a week!

When I was younger and getting my career off the ground, I don't think I had a hobby beyond reading. I had things I liked to do but nothing that really constituted a hobby.

I don't think I really knew it about myself, but I am far more arty (for want of a better word) than I suspected, and now I get a lot of pleasure from exploring that in various ways - whatever takes my fancy, whatever a friend is also doing and we split the cost of materials. But I have time to do that now.

It's probably not that unusual to not do a hobby. It's fine, right? Life is busy and brains are varied.

It was a figure of speech.