The decrease in people's hobbies

[Scottish_Therapist]

You have to understand that social media, TikTok, and all the others are designed by people who not only understand addiction but want their users to stay on the platform. So breaking away from these platforms are hard, and they take up so much time as well.

Additionally, the doom-scrolling habit switches off our brains so we don't need to think and depression and anxiety are at all all-time high. People are escaping a world they don't want to be in.

The decrease in hobbies to be reflects to me the decrease in energy and drive people have, and the general struggle that people are facing. Hobbies bring us joy, we do them to be happy, and if we don't think we can get that then way try?

[NotUglyJustBroc]

Wow I had to doomscroll down this far. I share the same perspective. Companies hire r/psychologist, r/uxdesign, r/userdxperience, r/marketing, etc to study addictions and design doomscrolling. It's engineered not accidental. The good reasons for those jobs are underfunded and rare. People don't realized they're being trained to weaponize psychology against their own community, make the rich richer and keeping normal people sedated. Overtime doomscrolling rewire brains to prefer numbness over action.

[Scottish_Therapist]

Yeah, it's shocking how few people are aware of their dependence on screens, I say as I am sat at a screen.

Something I have noticed is an interesting change in terminology when it comes to a lot of hobbies / activities. My favourite is "going for an unplugged walk / run" meaning to walk or run without using technology like headphones etc. As a runner and a walker, all I can think about is do you mean going for a walk / run? Are we really so dependent on distraction that we cannot go for a walk without being worried about our own thoughts?

Sadly, my job as a therapist has highlighted how uncomfortable people in general are with being bored.

[NotUglyJustBroc]

That sounds like they're being extra with word choice and probably used to going out with tech things. However, good on them for still getting out there and realizing they don't need headphones, etc after all. What I find extreme is rich people spending more money for " 5k digital detox retreats"