In my article on taking a social media detox, I mentioned that I was focusing more on developing hobbies, so I thought I would share them. The benefits to many of these are that they are adaptable to your own preferences. If you’re looking to lower your screen time altogether, you can use physical materials for mostly all of these. However, if you don’t want to buy more stuff and generate extra clutter, there’s also a digital option. My favourite thing about all of these is that they’re effortless yet highly fulfilling.Â
- PuzzlesÂ
I come from a family that loves doing puzzles, so naturally I’ve taken to doing so in my free time as well. I have a puzzle app on my iPad and one of my favourite ways to wind down in the evening is spending 20 minutes on the current puzzle I’m working on.Â
- Reading
Since I became an adult, my motivation for reading leisurely has unfortunately declined. I blame this on the fact that reading for academic purposes has taken up a lot of my brain power, and my attention span was in the trenches up until 2 months ago. However, I love writing, and in order to get better at my craft, I have to read.Â
Generally, reading a fiction book for 10 to 20 minutes before bed is a non-negotiable for me. Still, this means it can take me over a month to finish a book that’s longer than 300 pages, and it doesn’t have much of an impact on me since I’m still using social media during the day. This year, I wanted to challenge myself to pick up the habit in those moments when I felt the impulse to scroll. Downloading the Kindle app on my iPad has been great for this, but I still try to pick up a physical book during my study breaks to give my eyes a rest from staring at my laptop.Â
- Sketching
This is one of those hobbies that you can do on paper or use a sketching app like I do. While I’m not the world’s greatest artist, there is something very calming about curling up in bed or on the couch, starting a random doodle, and seeing where it takes me. It’s more about the process for me than the end result, after all.Â
- Creating digital collages/photography/videographyÂ
Anyone who knows me will tell you that in a social context, I’m the designated videographer/photographer. I used to film video diaries of our family vacations all the time; when I was in Manchester I would film vlogs going through my day, most of which I just shared with my family and friends back home so they could see more of what I was up to. If I see something pretty (like latte art), I’m stopping to take a picture of it. I’m very much a visual person, so taking pictures is how I like to experience the world.Â
Up until a while ago, I never thought of this as much of a hobby because it was just something that I did without thinking. But being in Manchester made me appreciate the creative process more. It was fun to experiment with different clip lengths, angles, and fonts for captions. Now I love to go on walks and take photos of nature, then edit them when I get home. I also enjoy going on Pinterest and creating vision boards and collages out of my saved photos. Sometimes, my collages are based around a central theme, like if I’m creating one for a writing project I’m working on to help me visualize the characters and worldbuilding. Other times, it’s just a matter of cutting and arranging together random photos that I find pretty and inspiring.Â
- Yoga
I’m unsure if this technically qualifies as a hobby, since moving my body is a necessity for me more than anything, but I can’t deny that yoga gives me more benefits than just mental and physical relaxation. I’ve been practicing it consistently for a few months and it has been fun discovering what my body is capable of. So I suppose you could say that a non-negotiable can be a hobby if it’s also an outlet for fun?Â
At the beginning of this year, I decided that 2025 was going to be the year of replacing my media consumption with more hobbies. If you’re interested in doing the same, I hope this list gives you some inspiration.