Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News Editorials & Other Articles General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

dalton99a

(93,754 posts)
Thu Mar 12, 2026, 11:34 AM 10 hrs ago

Young people are turning to old-school hobbies to get off their phones

https://apnews.com/article/old-school-hobbies-vintage-analog-grandma-e45fa11ae1422715b6a2540044767fd0

Young people are turning to old-school hobbies to get off their phones
By KAITLYN HUAMANI
Updated 12:00 AM CDT, March 9, 2026

LOS ANGELES (AP) — By age 23, Emma MacTaggart was already noticing how rare her free time was — and how it was seldom screen-free.

She was working long hours in investment banking and once she was finally able to log off after work, she would turn to her phone. Along with her roommates, she decided to hunt for a hobby that would replace that habit. They became “hooked” on needlepoint, she said, a practice she had briefly learned from relatives as a child, but one that she hadn’t picked up in years. And she hasn’t turned back since.

“It was a really therapeutic way to kind of distract yourself from either work or stress, but also just do something with your hands instead of doomscrolling,” she said. “We became completely obsessed.”

MacTaggart is part of a throng of young people who are turning to analog hobbies and activities as a means of escaping technology and reconnecting with childlike creativity and exploration. Somewhat ironically, this analog movement has been galvanized by its trendiness on social media.

Some of these hobbies — knitting, gardening and, of course, needlepoint — have been ascribed the term “grandma hobbies” online, referring to the older demographic that’s often been associated with them. But many other offline, tactile hobbies, like pottery, origami and even blacksmithing, have gained traction online with Gen-Z and millennials recently.

...


30 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Young people are turning to old-school hobbies to get off their phones (Original Post) dalton99a 10 hrs ago OP
Yes, my genZ daughter has recently picked up crocheting. FM123 10 hrs ago #1
I even noticed paint by numbers are back Oppaloopa 10 hrs ago #2
Lots of adult coloring books now Arazi 9 hrs ago #10
Paint by number Maninacan 8 hrs ago #15
Good for them! chowder66 9 hrs ago #3
grandma hobby? Gardening? NJCher 9 hrs ago #4
is using a sex toy a hobby? catsudon 9 hrs ago #5
As long as it doesn't involve teledildonics... my new word for the day! deurbano 9 hrs ago #7
Oh my word! niyad 9 hrs ago #11
Better living through technology. cloudbase 3 hrs ago #28
Yeah, Conjuay 4 hrs ago #26
I would volunteer one night a week EYESORE 9001 9 hrs ago #6
I have a Millennial friend that began playing Dungeons and Dragons Auggie 9 hrs ago #8
Me and a friend got our grandkids hooked on a hobby that they can use their cell phones constructively, RC Planes Cheezoholic 9 hrs ago #9
Anybody want an old stamp collection? WestMichRad 9 hrs ago #12
I had one of those! jfz9580m 8 hrs ago #13
Dungeons and Dragons angrychair 8 hrs ago #14
Boomer here born 1959 Maninacan 8 hrs ago #16
I used to build plastic model cars. Chemical Bill 7 hrs ago #19
Been considering for years the idea of building Prairie_Seagull 7 hrs ago #23
This message was self-deleted by its author Chemical Bill 7 hrs ago #21
I guess I could go back to growing weed leftstreet 8 hrs ago #17
it's not as much fun now...legal and all. ret5hd 4 hrs ago #24
I envy them jfz9580m 8 hrs ago #18
Geezers might benefit with a break from so much screen time too. Attilatheblond 7 hrs ago #20
My daughter has both of my grandsons heavy into sports... Wounded Bear 7 hrs ago #22
Buy.A.Guitar! ProfessorGAC 4 hrs ago #25
Yes! highplainsdem 2 hrs ago #29
I saw a recent clip on TV where a girl was holding up a ball of yarn and knitting needle. Irish_Dem 3 hrs ago #27
My grandson 13 has been doing 3D printing. Liberal In Texas 2 hrs ago #30

FM123

(10,357 posts)
1. Yes, my genZ daughter has recently picked up crocheting.
Thu Mar 12, 2026, 11:41 AM
10 hrs ago

She and some friends have even joined a crafting club (a group of 20 somethings happily alongside senior citizens, who by the way, sweetly and generously welcomed them in.

Maninacan

(269 posts)
15. Paint by number
Thu Mar 12, 2026, 01:08 PM
8 hrs ago

Saw a woman at the nursing home where my father is. Had paint by number on a phone.

NJCher

(43,012 posts)
4. grandma hobby? Gardening?
Thu Mar 12, 2026, 12:07 PM
9 hrs ago

You'd never think that if you saw my middle school science classes at the school garden. Such enthusiasm!

Hoeing rows, planting, weeding, dragging woodchips to the paths between raised beds.

EYESORE 9001

(29,652 posts)
6. I would volunteer one night a week
Thu Mar 12, 2026, 12:12 PM
9 hrs ago

to teach young people some classic card games, especially bridge and cribbage. There’s a social aspect to card games which online games can’t replicate.

Cheezoholic

(3,679 posts)
9. Me and a friend got our grandkids hooked on a hobby that they can use their cell phones constructively, RC Planes
Thu Mar 12, 2026, 12:32 PM
9 hrs ago

Not stupid drones, planes. Build them, learn them, fly them. Both kids, one grandson and one granddaughter, are hooked now. They were spending up to 8 hours a day on those phones or video games. Now they fly at the RC park or out here on my property all the time. They've got cameras on the planes and record their flights. They fly pilots eye view with their cellphones receiving the camera video. And the planes today are damn near bullet proof built of foam and composites. Not like the old days when I would spend all winter building a balsa flyer with a 4ft wing span and weed eater engine on it lol. You really learned to fly those because a crash was a months worth of work lol.

jfz9580m

(16,942 posts)
13. I had one of those!
Thu Mar 12, 2026, 12:58 PM
8 hrs ago

And a coin collection..in fairness, both were hand-me-downs from a cousin 14 years older than me. I wonder where they are..I should hunt them down..

angrychair

(12,174 posts)
14. Dungeons and Dragons
Thu Mar 12, 2026, 01:07 PM
8 hrs ago

Is booming right now and a great way to interact with people and have to think outside the box and use your imagination.
I played for many years and working on getting back into it now to get away from my phone and interact with real people because my spouse said I had too 😊

Maninacan

(269 posts)
16. Boomer here born 1959
Thu Mar 12, 2026, 01:17 PM
8 hrs ago

Trying to get ambition to build a balsa airplane and a plastic car model. Recently last 5 yrs. have learned a lot about Solar and electric for building my campervan. I flunked electronics in 1979 but some of it stuck with me thru the years. I think the model building as a teen gave me the skill and patience for my toolmaking career.Despite flunking all math through 12 grades I learned Trig in Tech school.

Chemical Bill

(3,161 posts)
19. I used to build plastic model cars.
Thu Mar 12, 2026, 01:55 PM
7 hrs ago

More recently, I build plywood boats. It's a lot like models only bigger.

Prairie_Seagull

(4,651 posts)
23. Been considering for years the idea of building
Thu Mar 12, 2026, 02:42 PM
7 hrs ago

a ship in a bottle. Know little about it except I do know my knots.

This post may kick me in the ass. Strongly agree with less screen time.

Yea it's Ironic.

Response to Maninacan (Reply #16)

jfz9580m

(16,942 posts)
18. I envy them
Thu Mar 12, 2026, 01:41 PM
8 hrs ago

I am so furious about unwanted connection technology bleeding into my real world spaces with no permission ever sought, I have to be online ranting till someone pays attention from the state here in India and starts: 1) offering an explanation PDQ without that being alarming for me and 2) offer me a path to serious complaint filing, including criminal liability for the tech companies, defense contractors, gamers/hackers/influencers, hospitals and other institutions involved.

You can’t basically pull this bs in a democracy. This ain’t China:

https://qz.com/85609/the-18-2-million-reason-larry-page-would-like-a-regulation-free-playground-in-which-to-experiment

Yesterday Google $GOOGL -1.84% CEO Larry Page said it would be nice if there were some part of the world that were free of regulation so that companies like Google could experiment without fetter. He cited Burning Man, the drug-fueled quasi-anarchist arts festival that Page has been known to attend, as an example of such a place, but in reality it might look more like special economic zones like the one in Honduras.

But why is Page saying this now? On the one hand, there’s the steady drum-beat of regulatory action against Google in Europe, from Germany’s 2009 declaration that Google Books violates copyright law to France’s recent proposal to tax Google in order to finance its own cultural projects.

More recently, and perhaps more ominously, US regulators have vowed to pounce on Google if it violates the terms of its settlement last January of an antitrust suit brought by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC). That ended a 19-month investigation of the company, which means Google spent all of 2012 and much of 2011 worrying whether the FTC was going to fine it, or worse. And in 2012, Google spent a record $18.2 million lobbying Washington according to transparency website OpenSecrets, probably out of concern for the results of that lawsuit. [Update: Some have pointed out that it’s even more likely that Google’s 2012 lobbying binge was due to the company’s successful effort to kill the 2012 Stop Online Piracy Act.]


This guy should stick with hanging out with Epstein..total creep:

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/05/04/google-co-founder-larry-page-can-get-jeffrey-epstein-case-service.html
(That was the last I heard of this creep).

I use marijuana medically from a decent, small local company I trust and supplement it with otc modafinil from a small local pharmacy known to my family for over 20 years, since I could not find any other services of use locally.
That doesn’t mean I signed up for this sleazy, creepfest, stuffed with bullshit “research”.

I post about it on DU to leave an online trail now on the one site I trust outside academic spaces, where I pretend not to exist except as a dull drone. I don’t like mixing.

Physics Stack Exchange and DU are two distinct parts of life and I don’t like combining the two.

But I totally sympathized with these people and this has now hit that critical phase where it needs to be ended, driven out and complaints filed. It is shit for one’s attention and peace of mind, if like me you got dragged into this some 14 years back, while being like me unenthusiastic about communication and personal use tech except rarely.

https://journals.law.harvard.edu/jsel/2019/04/pokemon-go-class-action-settles-as-augmented-reality-legal-questions-remain/

Pokémon Go Class Action Settles as Augmented Reality Legal Questions Remain

By JSEL / April 12, 2019
Property owners suing Niantic, the developer of augmented reality gaming sensation Pokémon Go, for trespass and nuisance, have likely settled after years of litigation. They submitted a proposed settlement to the US District Court for the Northern District of California. The class action, a consolidation of numerous claims filed against Niantic in 2016, alleged that the developer induced Pokémon Go gamers to trespass onto homeowners’ properties. The class action settlement would force Niantic to implement stricter internal policies regarding the virtual placement of game characters on private property.

The concept of Pokémon Go is simple—players are able to capture, train, and battle virtual creatures that are “mapped” onto real-world locations, enabling every 90’s kid to live out their dream as a real-life Pokémon trainer. But by fusing the virtual and physical worlds, the game’s designer, Niantic, has raised a slew of legal issues surrounding privacy, intellectual property, and, in this case, trespass.

In one claim, a homeowner, Boon Sheridan, discovered that his house had been designated a Pokémon “gym,” which serves as a landmark where Pokémon players can gather to battle head-to-head with their rivals. As a result, activity around his quiet suburban home spiked exponentially, with Pokémon trainers battling outside his door at all hours of the day and night. One player proudly asserted his status as the gym’s owner, despite the fact that the virtual haunt is located directly on Sheridan’s property.

This raises several unresolved issues surrounding property ownership and trespass. Who owns a virtual space? Is it owned by the game designer, the player who establishes in-game dominion, or the owner of the physical location onto which the virtual space has been mapped? Who should be held responsible for the numerous trespasses that have been committed since the launch of Pokémon Go? Though Niantic has spurred players to break the law in pursuit of Pikachu, the design team itself has never stepped foot onto private property.


Here in India, in the context of women’s safety (with acid attacks and gang rapes not being unheard of), there is a definite legal rationale for a criminal lawsuit.
To be clear, mostly overpopulation aside, life is decent here. And most people are decent enough for routine interactions.

But these are rapacious, extractive industries and legally legitimate enough arguments of all kinds should be used to hold all the technology companies criminally liable to make this so scary and unprofitable it doesn’t become the default setting and instead requires lengthy permission processes where the citizen can refuse altogether. Who cares what flies at a disgusting hell like Stanford? Those people (the Woods Institute, the Ehrliches, Prof Dirzo/MAHB aside) have no class and cannot be considered representative of anyone but the creepiest parts of society.

Our govt had no right to proceed with this. I would not trust these frauds to have any serious understanding of the earth sciences, which I would consider indispensable wrt making free with my spaces, corruption and creepiness aside.

These guys have no understanding of the rhythms of nature, circadian rhythms, how magnetoreception works, the delicate web of life, the intricate nature of mutualism in honest and fair human social contracts and human community and they want to barge in with light and sound pollution and creeps and expect us to back down. To hell with that. That is not ubiquitous computing. That is a blatant land grab.

Chris Ketcham gets it..I like Chris..he is so sane..

https://www.counterpunch.org/2024/09/30/eat-pray-pollute-on-the-needed-death-of-tourism/

Attilatheblond

(8,729 posts)
20. Geezers might benefit with a break from so much screen time too.
Thu Mar 12, 2026, 02:02 PM
7 hrs ago

Spent the morning prepping flower pots, filling, watering, planting seeds, placing them around the rocks in the front yard. I will be feeling it later, but the new Rx doctor ordered for me is helping me get some sleep, so energy level slowly climbing.

Nice to be outside. Birds singing. Quail screaming. Not hot, yet but all too soon. Got to wave to people walking their puppers.

Just now got online and that's weird as usual news start time is 6 AM.

Protect one's mental health. Not much I can do about the shit that is going down and less time reading about it might mean less pointless ruminating and more energy to plan for upcoming protests, register voters, and doing costumes for protests.

Also, daughter got me Denver Riggleman's book about the J6 investigation and the ash tree in the back yard is leafing out, so....

Wounded Bear

(64,198 posts)
22. My daughter has both of my grandsons heavy into sports...
Thu Mar 12, 2026, 02:36 PM
7 hrs ago

Negatives to that, I know, but it keeps them off the screens.

ProfessorGAC

(76,528 posts)
25. Buy.A.Guitar!
Thu Mar 12, 2026, 05:46 PM
4 hrs ago

There's a nice analog hobby for them.
AND.....
...don't do lessons on YouTube. Find a human being and take lessons twice a month.
The advantage today is that there is no such thing as a bad guitar today, so a very low outlay of cash will not result in a guitar that makes learning more difficult.

Irish_Dem

(80,908 posts)
27. I saw a recent clip on TV where a girl was holding up a ball of yarn and knitting needle.
Thu Mar 12, 2026, 06:17 PM
3 hrs ago

And explaining what they were to viewers.
Then she held up a crochet hook and explained that too.

She was acting like they were the newest things on the planet.
Never seen before.

I was shocked.

Liberal In Texas

(16,210 posts)
30. My grandson 13 has been doing 3D printing.
Thu Mar 12, 2026, 07:13 PM
2 hrs ago

Making objects and painting them.

Glad he's doing something like this. I was hoping that my model-making hobby would rub off on the kids.

Latest Discussions»General Discussion»Young people are turning ...