Hobby versus Entertainment

[DaveC426913]

I think I probably started this with book reading. I think of it as a hobby, but rigorously I'd say it falls more under entertainment.

The criteria chosen for the distinction between hobby and entertainment (and it is, of course, a continuum between them) is how much personal effort or creativity goes into the activity.

I'm not sure that's well-defined. For example, there's a third axis that's not even being considering yet: that of sport. Most sports would be classified as hobby because of the effort involved - which is why effort is in the criteria - not all hobbies have creativity as their focus.

The easy-to-define activities cluster around the ends (though where they are in relation to each other at each end is highly arbitrary). I'd like to fill in the chart more, especially in the middle, though I don't want to have to list every activity known to humanity, maybe just some typicals.

I'm curious about personal activities that might put the lie to this generalization. Are there activities that require a lot of personal effort/input, yet might still conceptually fall under entertainment? Are there activities that require little input or effort that might be considered hobbies?

Where would you put group card games? What about crossword puzzles?

Is the terminology sensical? Is there a more diagnostic term than personal creativity/effort input?

 

[Seattle]

I think that hobbies are a form of entertainment but not all entertainment would be considered a hobby for the reasons you've mentioned, having to to with passive vs active.

 

[exchemist]

I think I probably started this with book reading. I think of it as a hobby, but rigorously I'd say it falls more under entertainment.

The criteria chosen for the distinction between hobby and entertainment (and it is, of course, a continuum between them) is how much personal effort or creativity goes into the activity.

I'm not sure that's well-defined. For example, there's a third axis that's not even being considering yet: that of sport. Most sports would be classified as hobby because of the effort involved - which is why effort is in the criteria - not all hobbies have creativity as their focus.

The easy-to-define activities cluster around the ends (though where they are in relation to each other at each end is highly arbitrary). I'd like to fill in the chart more, especially in the middle, though I don't want to have to list every activity known to humanity, maybe just some typicals.

I'm curious about personal activities that might put the lie to this generalization. Are there activities that require a lot of personal effort/input, yet might still conceptually fall under entertainment? Are there activities that require little input or effort that might be considered hobbies?

Where would you put group card games? What about crossword puzzles?

Is the terminology sensical? Is there a more diagnostic term than personal creativity/effort input?

View attachment 5443

Sex? A lot of effort, but hardly a hobby.

Also, what is the abscissa? It does not seem to be labelled.

 

[DaveC426913]

Sex? A lot of effort, but hardly a hobby.

Depends on how much creativity you put into it.

'Erotic' is tickling your partner with a feather. 'Kinky' is using the whole chicken."

Also, what is the abscissa?

Er. I got an ointment for that. You weren't supposed to talk about it.

All seriousness aside, I don't think there is any absolute coordinate system to-be-had - it's all relative, to-wit ""this is more than that but less than the other".

 

[Beer w/Straw]

Hobby, entertainment...

What if you're distilling whilst living under rule of prohibition? Or, simply brewing beer?

:EDIT:

The internet seems to fall into necessity.

 

[exchemist]

Depends on how much creativity you put into it.

'Erotic' is tickling your partner with a feather. 'Kinky' is using the whole chicken."


Er. I got an ointment for that. You weren't supposed to talk about it.

All seriousness aside, I don't think there is any absolute coordinate system to-be-had - it's all relative, to-wit ""this is more than that but less than the other".

OK it was the graph showing two axes, and your mention of a third, that I found confusing. So really there’s only a single axis - with positions on a spectrum.

But I think you are basically right that a hobby has the idea of work, of some kind, and ideally a goal to be achieved by means of that, implicit in it. Whereas entertainment doesn’t.

In fact this calls to mind an essay question, once set for the Oxford entrance exam, back in the days when they set their own: “How could you tell that a Martian was playing?”

Rather ingenious, I thought. But dat wy dem belong dons, of course.

 

[exchemist]

Hobby, entertainment...

What if you're distilling whilst living under rule of prohibition? Or, simply brewing beer?

:EDIT:

The internet seems to fall into necessity.

No, that’s criminal enterprise…..

 

[Beer w/Straw]

No, that’s criminal enterprise…..

Criminal enterprise you say?

Was prohibition truly just? -Rhetorical question, I'd be changing the subject waysomuch so, I'll look to start a knew thread.

 

[DaveC426913]

OK it was the graph showing two axes, and your mention of a third, that I found confusing.

Yeah. Gonna walk that back. I think Sports might be its own graph. ON this graph, all sports activities would fall under Hobby.

So really there’s only a single axis - with positions on a spectrum.

No. Well the X-axis is, itself, a spectrum.

But we don't know there is a direct correlation between - er - hobbyness and creato-effortness. We have an apparent correlation, but that is as likely to be from a paucity of data so far. I'm looking for items that might show it is not a direct correlation.

Are there any activities that fall in the upper left or lower right quadrants?

“How could you tell that a Martian was playing?”

An interesting take...

 

[DaveC426913]

What if you're distilling whilst living under rule of prohibition? Or, simply brewing beer?

Distilling and brewing require quite a bit of personal effort. They definitely fall into the top right quadrant, much like cooking and baking. Prohibition has no relevance here. No one said hobbies have to be legal.

 

[spidergoat]

Distilling and brewing require quite a bit of personal effort. They definitely fall into the top right quadrant, much like cooking and baking. Prohibition has no relevance here. No one said hobbies have to be legal.

Indeed, some hobbies are ethical but not necessarily legal in all jurisdictions. For instance, if one were to be into growing psychedelic mushrooms under the bed. Theoretically. I guess that counts as both hobby and entertainment.