Are hobbies important? Yes
Hobby inflation is likely to register (and may already be registering) real social, political, and economic consequences—because not only are hobbies good for the well-being of those who take them up; they also connect people to their communities, help them make new friends, and bring them into contact with people whom, whether by virtue of age, race, or socioeconomic circumstance, they might otherwise have no occasion to know. If we are indeed living in “the anti-social century,” as The Atlantic’s Derek Thompson has suggested, then the rising cost of hobbies could be part of the story of how many of us became more isolated.
I have 2 hobbies whose expense has been put on hold due to tariffs. One, many products come from Japan and have now seen a 25% spike in prices. The other has essentially all products and components from China and has seen a 145% spike in prices.
Hobbies are my primary path to social contact – of which I’ve had almost none since Covid but had plans now to get involved with local hobby groups. That’s sort of on ice at the moment even though social contact is a major risk factor for some health issues.
