We live in a world where side hustles are encouraged, praised and increasing in popularity rapidly. In 2019 alone, over 57 million Americans (35% of the total workforce) had turned to freelance work to cushion their incomes. Since COVID-19, this number has increased rapidly. But this shift represents more than an economic trend; it signals a fundamental shift in how society views leisure, creativity and fulfillment.
Simply put, young people do not have hobbies anymore. They have side hustles.
The modern message is clear: if you enjoy a hobby or activity and you are good at it, but you are not using that skill to actively progress toward a monetary goal or achievement, then you are wasting both time and talent. In a society that emphasizes capital gain from hobbies, any leisure time without profit is perceived as time wasted.
This obsession with capitalizing on hobbies has added pressure and a fear of failure to activities that people once did for fun. The joy of creation has been replaced by the anxiety of monetization. What was once relief has become yet another competition arena and economic evaluation.
In truth, creative pursuits exist because humans are hardwired to create. Singing, dancing, painting and storytelling are things humans have done since before there were written records to document them. These activities did not originate from economic necessity, but from the human need to express, imagine and connect.
The commodification of leisure dates back to the Industrial Revolution. In his book, “Hobbies: Leisure and the Culture of Work in America,” Steven M. Gelber references this era as pivotal. As the fluidity of pre-industrial time gave way to blocks of commodified time that could be sold for work or withheld for leisure, moral authorities worried that time away from the job could be spent in delinquent activity and “deviant” ideas deemed undesirable to the working world.
Gelber calls hobbies “productive leisure” because they generate something, whether it be a scarf or a list of books one has read. Even outside the workplace, capitalist culture has been replicated in the status of hobbies, which provide relief from normal work while also conveying the importance of a strong work ethic. Proficiency and expertise have become the underlying goal.
Under capitalism, hobbies feel competitive because society is designed to compete. While feeling accomplishment at finishing a task is human, feeling compelled to do bigger and better to the point where you stop enjoying your hobby is a direct byproduct of capitalist culture.
The current era has taken this a step further — doing something for the sake of improvement is no longer enough. Now, we have come to perceive skills as something that should earn you money. In contrast to industrial capitalism, where the main value of hobbies was their entertainment value, their primary justification is now financial. “Good” hobbies are ones that generate revenue or demonstrate specific skills to employers on your resume.
Capitalism sends the message that value is determined by economic output, but resisting this mindset is possible. Doing something you love because you love it is not frivolous; it is human. You do not have to monetize your joy and passion. It is possible, and should be encouraged, to participate in a hobby because it makes you feel alive.
The question is not whether we can afford to have hobbies without profit. It is whether we can afford not to.