For me right now, it’s books followed shortly of watching things. And I mean watching things that isn’t YouTube. Recently, I’ve been donating totes of books, books I’ve spent a long time having thrifted for and waited to get without having to cave to spending online.
And those books just sat there for months and months without being picked up to be read. Even books I wanted! I used to have a 5-shelf bookcase filled with books, another 3 shelf filled with books, a structure compromising of a shoe shelf and TV-stand filled with books. Now after donating things, I am only down to a single three-shelf bookcase just packed up with what books I have decided to remain with me.
As for watching things, I’ve discarded over 120+ DVDs from my collection, I still have a hefty amount, like I have nearly 5 full disc books filled with discs of a wide variety of movies and shows to watch should I ever not be online or want time off from being online. All just continue to sit there unwatched as I just keep watching YouTube video after YouTube video.
I just think I am coming around to the acceptance that I just will not give myself time to these hobbies and that they’re probably dying out, I predict that if I don’t do anything in the next couple years should they all sit and gather more dust, I’ll just let them all go.
I used to get so much enjoyment out of video games. I could play for entire weekends. Now I sit down and play for an hour or so and start to get bored.
This is only the first stage.
Next you’ll stop gaming completely, but still enjoy watching others play.
Then even watching gets annoying. That’s where I am now. I don’t know what’s next.
Next stage is some amount of time away from video games.
The stage after that is nostalgia: someone will mention one of the games you loved back in the day and you’ll think “That was when I was happiest. I should find out how to play that again.”
Then you’ll find some way to play it, whether by cobbling together some emulation software or buying some As Seen on TV handheld game that includes your game and a hundred others.
You’ll scratch a little bit of the itch, but decide to start checking out the current video game scene.
Once you realize everything now is too flashy and fast and annoying or it has some dreaded multiplayer requirement that you no longer have enough friends to fulfill and the public rooms of the game are filled with a bunch of children.
Eventually, you’ll stumble into the future’s version of Stardew Valley and be content just building quiet little worlds by yourself.
I have been playing the same games for the past decade. Minecraft, Animal Crossing New Leaf and a bit of Cities Skylines and KSP sprinkled in there
Next you’ll stop gaming completely, but still enjoy watching others play.
Speak for yourself.
When adults get bored of gaming, it’s because they end up doing other things in their lives completely unrelated to it.
That’s definitely me as well. I thought my tastes in games were changing, since I wasn’t enjoying the types of games I usually did, but I eventually concluded that I was just bored of gaming in general. It feels weird, since gaming has been my main hobby since forever and I still keep up with gaming news. I’ve since taken up a new hobby (Gunpla) that’s been scratching an itch I didn’t realize I’ve had for quite some time. My wallet hates me though.
Programming. I don’t like where it’s heading and I don’t like the culture
I used to be a software engineer, but moved into infrastructure instead, so I haven’t really been programming much for few years. But all the vibe coding I see around me is making me yearn for coding the old-school way. And I’ve been searching a bit for something to apply that drive to…
Video games, but not because I want to. I have so much on my plate right now that could make my life better. I need to exercise more. I used to run and lift. I need to spend time with my hands-on craft hobby. I need to bake more. I enjoy video games SOOOOO much but I feel my life would probably be better without them.
If you enjoy them that much, then wouldn’t they be enriching your life not making it worse?
Seems like maybe you need to be easier on yourself.
I get told I am too harsh on myself a lot. Sigh.
It’s complicated. It’s the difference between fun and happiness. Video games are fun and a little bit of fun can contribute to happiness. However, I am also unhappy because the time I’ve spent on video games isn’t really long term.
It’s like eating healthy food which will make you feel better overall VS having a little treat. That ice cream I had isn’t really helping me except get fat. That apple I ate is gonna make me live better and longer.
However, a life without treats… Is that a life worth living?
All hobbies that don’t involve a screen. I’ve been having serious mobility issues, where standing for more than a few minutes is painful and I leave the house only in my wheelchair. It makes going to restaurants, concerts and events difficult. Makes going on hikes impossible or even existing in parks more painful than pleasurable.
Appreciate your legs y’all. :(
I used to be involved in my local Warhammer/Wargaming scene. Like full bore painting, modeling, 3d printing, doing tournaments, having a bi-weekly club. Unfortunately I fell on hard times and then my baby brother had a baby. So had to sell most of my stuff. We live together that’s why. Can’t have resin printers around a newborn. That’s a super hard no. I kept the paint because I used oils instead of acrylics, but that never turned into canvas painting. I sold all my armies across like 7 different game systems. The only games I have left are Infinity and trading card games. It’s all just sitting in boxes in the attic right now.
I don’t know if I’ll get back to doing any of it any time soon. I got to get a job and a car. I wanna move to a new city, but unfortunately that city is turning into a fucking ICE stomping ground. One of my friends in the scene recently died and at his funeral almost our whole social group showed up. Sounds like we all scattered and haven’t been participating in hobby as much. Most people found other things to do.
It was a great run. About 10 years of a social life and something to do. At one point you think it’s never gonna end because it’s so good, but life will find a way. I hope to get back to it some day.
Motorcycling. I live in a dense urban area and the traffic here is nightmarish. It takes me like 2+ hours to reach good riding roads, and that’s more time than I’m willing to invest these days. I’ll still use it for short city errands but I’ve noticed a drastic drop off compared to say five years ago.
Maybe consider a bicycle? Similar enjoyment but better suited to dense cities because you’re allowed to go on multi-use paths and other places motorcycles aren’t.
I do bike, but it’s not one of my passions. Very different experience than a motorbike :)
As a kid I had a friend who modified his bike to make motorbike sounds, could this provide the experience you are looking for?
🤣
Appreciate the thought but I don’t think so. The cornering and getting s knee down are the things I miss most.
Same here, but for different reasons. I used to need to commute a lot, which is a lot more fun (and much quicker) on a motorcycle. When the kids were born, I wanted to find a job closer to home. Now I live a 10 minute bicycle ride from the office.
The kids have grown up now, but my motorcycle has worn out and I have not bothered to replace it.
Gaming.
I used to play every day with my best friend for 30 years until one day he threw me under a bus, so to speak, cut off all contact and I don’t even know why
I have an awesome wife now with whom I spend every second and I don’t really have any time left to play games
Most common reason to give these up seems to be lack of time. Why has our amount of time changed? We still work the same hours, get purchases delivered, have the same families even with fewer kids so we should have more not less right? What is eating into our available time? Is it social media?
Table tennis is the one I miss the most, used to play it all the time with the other kids in the building I used to live, level was quite high since we even asked for pro level stuff to our parents. Was the only sport that I actually loved and practiced every week, but everyone grew up, moved out, and the closest place that has it to me is a 1 hour drive with traffic.
Music. I played piano since very young, started making tracks on 4-track and the Amiga around 10 years old, kept going deeper with the demoscene and playing in + recording bands. Went on to do a music degree, got a job making music…
Hobby became serious, then it turned into a ball and chain. I turned around, did a second degree and started working in a different field. Thought I’d keep music as a hobby, but now it presents a different face: no point in making tracks if nobody but me ever listens, nor is there point in producing other people for free with all the invested time most likely never being too fruitful.
I did find a new hobby though. Working out is the antithesis to working on art projects. Put an hour in, get an hour’s worth of gains back. Love it :D
Aw me too :( coming to terms with the same feeling I think ♥️ glad you found something cool to do in its place.
Thanks for this 😊 It certainly wasn’t easy to let the muse go, here’s hoping you will manage it smoothly - or better, find a way to keep the flame going ❣️
Life, each day I feel it’s less of it.
Gaming has left me with this always connected, forced multiplayer so there’s some fucking reason to justify the need bullshit. Diablo 4 is fucking garbage because of the need for engagement, ladders, endgame content, and I fucking hate it.
Just give me games I can obsess over for a month and beat and be done. And I probably still will replay it fifty times over the next decade because there’s nothing as good anyway (Hi, Baldur’s Gate and Skyrim).
I find myself flooded with new releases I don’t care about, but then go and spend 2 months playing through all of mass effect instead
Nothing, really. I’ve spent most of my life focusing on what matters to me, and so as time goes on I just get more dedicated to the things I already like.
I don’t play competitive online games any more. They are a waste of time and exist to reward whoever puts the most amount of time into them. It’s a race to the bottom to see who’s the biggest loser.
I still play games though, just ones where I’m not the product.
I fail to see how you are the product by playing a competitive game, do you think game companies make money by data harvesting?
The piano. I used to play almost everyday and I got pretty good at it but I rarely play it now. Just yesterday was the first time I played it in a couple years
For me it has also been gaming. Some part of my brain is always reminding me about all the chores I have to do and all the crafting projects I could be working on instead. Also the cats keep on demanding attention every 5-10 minutes so that takes me right out of the flow if I ever manage to get into it.
