What if Your Hobby Was Better for You Than Your Phone?

Source: Mia Nosanow

It’s just easier and more fun to look at one of the millions of truly fascinating items on our phones than attend to … whatever else it is we are supposed to be doing at this moment. Our phones and the social media on our phones are designed to keep our attention.

The numbers back this up. According to Consumer Affairs, in 2024, 98 percent of Americans (331 million people) owned a mobile phone, with 91 percent of the phones being smartphones. They found that, on average, Americans spend 4 hours and 30 minutes on their mobile phones and check their phones 205 times per day. Social media browsing takes up an average of 1 hour and 57 minutes of that time on our phones.

It helps to understand why our screens are so seductive. The technology behind scrolling uses an intermittent reward system (based on research by behavioral psychologist B. F. Skinner), the exact same psychology that makes slot machines in casinos so addictive. The algorithms used by social media sites are designed to know us better than we know ourselves and offer us content that we just can’t resist. Lastly, our phone fits easily in the palm of our hand, and we can even scroll one-handed—absolutely nothing is asked of us except to own the phone.

Abundant research continues to affirm that excess social media use is detrimental to well-being—for example, the 2026 World Happiness Report found that social media use among adolescents is inversely linked to life satisfaction.

For the foreseeable future, the greatest minds of our generation are going to be debating how to control this shiny dragon in the palm of our hands. Slay it or tame it? We know we want to be on our phones less, but how?

Turns out there is a groundswell of people using their hands and minds in creative ways that benefit them more than staying on their phones. Clinical research backs this up: More and more studies and books are coming out about the benefits of participating in a hobby on physical, mental, and cognitive health.

Psychology researchers have found well-being benefits in many areas in a wide variety of hobbies. There is no conclusive list of hobbies, but they usually include arts (painting, pottery, woodworking, choir, stand-up comedy), fine arts (museums, concerts, theatre, dance), fiber (sewing, embroidery, knitting, crocheting), outdoors (gardening, hiking, bird watching), games (mahjong, puzzles, Lego), reading, and cooking/baking. Luckily, hobbies have a wide definition, and this list is just a starting point.

Here are five areas of the benefits of hobbies that are worth highlighting:

1. Cultivating calm and relieving stress

The repetitive motions of many hobbies signal safety to our parasympathetic system and release endorphins. Bilateral movements (movements that use both hands and, thus, both sides of the brain) can create therapeutic results similar to those found in eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) treatment. Doing our favorite hobby allows us to enter a flow state and can help reset the nervous system, which releases dopamine and serotonin. While scrolling on a phone does trigger small doses of dopamine, it also releases stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline, which are obviously not helpful in stress reduction.

2. Pleasure

Adding an activity that we have a passion for will naturally add more joy to our lives. Small successes from paint strokes or yarn stitches, for example, repeatedly release small amounts of dopamine, which creates a feeling of satisfaction. When our hobby helps us stay in the present moment, we activate the same benefits as mindfulness meditation. The attention needed to participate in our hobby helps distract from negative thoughts or rumination.

3. Focus

Many studies show our ability to focus is improved when we engage in a hobby, as we need to concentrate on precise details and/or follow steps or patterns. This is exactly the opposite of what happens when we endlessly scroll on our phones.

4. Sense of control

Our choice about whether or not to pick the project, the details that go along with it, the time to engage in it, etc., as well as our growing mastery, can help us feel a sense of control in a world that often feels unstable and uncertain.

Source: Mia Nosanow

5. Social connection

Our hobbies can build community in person through classes, meetups at coffee shops, and participation needs. Using patterns or materials that come from family or our culture is another way of building community through time and space. An unexpected form of community is the anticipation of giving our creation to another, whether a friend or loved one, or to charity.

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Especially important for us to note is the lack of expertise needed. According to research, the same brain benefits occur whether engaging in a beginning or advanced project. It’s all about what the person needs in the moment they pick up their craft—finding the right combination of calming and challenging, for example. So painting by numbers will give you the same sense of peace and accomplishment as your plein air landscape masterpiece.

In a sped-up world, where staring at our phones makes our heads spin even faster than the news, it's a great relief to know that we can find serenity, healing, and joy in time-tested activities. What hobby will you try today?