Introduction
Over the last decades, the paradigm of activities and hobbies people are engaged in on a regular basis has been modified drastically due to the overall shift of the notion “leisure’. Nowadays, unlike years ago, the vast majority of people find their hobbies without going outside their homes. Thus, some of the most widespread activities of the kind include blogging, social media platforms management, playing videogames, and crocheting.
Having so many options to choose, people have now been wondering the best possible hobby to maintain their physical and emotional health while developing intelligence. The question has become even more relevant in the context of the current pandemic that makes millions of people stay at home most of the time, including both work and leisure. Thus, in the process of research and personal experience, it was estimated that playing videogames is the best solution in terms of the indoor hobbies paradigm. In order to justify the statement, such activities as crocheting, blogging, and videogames will be analyzed on the subject of their advantages for individuals.
Defining a Hobby
It is quite hard to imagine human life without a series of activities or things that make people feel better about themselves and more satisfied with their lives in general. These activities are frequently known as hobbies, being defined by the researchers as “activities pursued for pleasure and for creatively occupying one’s spare time” (Hegde, 2016, p. 111). Hence, the hobbies people choose for their leisure are responsible for the neurotransmitters functioning in the brain, activating dopamine levels. Moreover, hobbies allow people to enhance their intelligence with the help of constant cognitive perception training. Such hobbies as blogging, playing videogames, and crocheting are the most appropriate examples of an activity that encourages people’s cognitive and emotional development. To begin with, the positive aspects of playing videogames will be discussed.
Videogames
The debate over the positive and negative aspects of playing videogames has now been relevant for several years, implying that when played by adolescents, their communicative skills and emotional intelligence is affected significantly. However, the answer to the following debate could be formulated with the help of a universally accepted argument – everything people do is harmful when done excessively. Hence, it is better to dwell upon the advantages videogames bring people instead.
To begin with, playing videogames is an invaluable tool in terms of improving one’s emotional health and releasing emotional pain. Many people argue that the vast majority of videogames nowadays include much violence and aggression, which later affects one’s mental state. However, when people perform an aggressive response while being actively engaged in the game, they also release the emotions that tackle them for various reasons besides the game. In such a way, people have the chance to become free from the burden of emotional pain, dragging them into depressive episodes. Moreover, the researchers claim that people who have the predisposition for some diseases encouraged by mental disorders, have a lower probability of disease development when their emotional response is active during playing videogames (Griffith et al., 2017). Hence, videogames play a significant role in terms of developing and maintaining one’s mental health and communication with others, as the emotions released during the process would not later address one’s surroundings.
Many people argue that playing videogames interferes with one’s physical activity, as the vast majority of games are played in front of the computer screen that causes issues with the eyesight and posture. However, over the last years, the paradigm of videogames has modified significantly after the introduction of virtual reality (VR) technologies. In fact, researchers claim that today’s popular videogame platforms like Xbox and Wii, promote active videogames that encourage physical activity among all the age categories and college students, in particular (Gao, 2017). Hence, videogames as an indoor hobby are now beneficial in terms of physical health promotion.
Finally, playing videogames inevitably influences one’s cognitive activity patterns in a number of beneficial ways. First of all, many videogames are strategic, presupposing that the player would anticipate one’s actions to make progress (Boot et al., 2017). On a subconscious level, some videogames promote educational tools, e.g., foreign language learning (mostly English language), to have a better understanding of the game and the ability to enhance one’s skills. Moreover, playing videogames might serve as an external motivation for an individual to boost cognitive skills and skill acquisition mechanism due to a high level of competency in the game.
Besides general development, individuals who are willing to improve skills in a specific area like 3D modeling and construction have the chance to be engaged in videogames that require a certain skill level to succeed. Such an interactive way of learning can be more efficient than the fundamentals presented in colleges, being mostly focused on a theoretical basis. Thus, while being an indoor activity, playing videogames helps people feel more confident about their skills in real-life situations. Many people argue that people who play videogames are mostly interested in the playing process without paying attention to the outside world, which could make their cognitive skills deteriorate. However, science claims that properly developed strategic videogames require a cognitive process that encompasses major brain functions enhancement.
Crocheting
Nowadays, practically no one could think of an indoor activity that would not require technology. However, a variety of hobbies still do not presuppose any additional gadgets except for some materials and one’s hands. One of the most widespread activities of a kind is crocheting, i.e., creating textiles with the help of hook and yarn. Some of the major advantages of crocheting include the development of fine motor skills and concentration. However, in order to obtain these valuable skills, one is to face many challenges related to the hobby.
To begin with, the process itself requires much time and attention without getting a measurable result. Consequently, some people might become annoyed by the activity and its tediousness. Furthermore, in order to obtain a certain level of expertise in the field, a person has to learn how crocheting works in the first place. Hence, crocheting is not appropriate for people who expect to be rewarded by a certain hobby, as all the efforts put in crocheting give some rewarding feedbacks in the long run. Finally, although this activity develops one’s concentration and trains attention span average length, it also presupposes spending much time sitting and doing nothing else but crocheting. Such a lifestyle might lead to posture deterioration and problems with mental health.
Blogging
In the context of the 21st century, learning has become nothing but a mandatory skill for people of all age groups. The relevance of learning is related to the rapid advancements in practically any field requiring a great deal of knowledge to compete in such an environment. However, while some people believe that they are able to develop equally in all the spheres, others do their best to excel in a certain field to share their knowledge later. The best way to do this is to start a personal blog dedicated to one’s lifestyle in general, or a topic that one considers to be the most interesting and relevant. However, while blogging has now become quite a valuable tool in terms of communication and education, it still has some flaws when treated as a hobby.
To begin with, regardless of the blog’s topic, the author is to operate profound writing skills in order to interact with the readers and make them interested in the content. Secondly, it is of crucial importance to define the major purpose of the blog in the first place. If the author wants this blog to engage many active readers, he or she has to define a schedule and content plan for the blog. However, having a hobby should be about inspiration and escape from the routine, so blogging as a hobby should not become a tedious sequence of tasks. Furthermore, many users who read blogs expect some action from the author to keep things more interesting, so it is important to learn how to communicate with the audience through such activities as contests, polls, or giveaways.
Conclusion
The following paper’s purpose was to conduct a contrastive analysis of such indoor hobbies as playing videogames, crocheting, and blogging to define the most relevant and beneficial activity. Taking everything into consideration, it might be concluded that videogames are the best option for an indoor hobby for a number of reasons:
- Stress reduction;
- Physical activity;
- Emotional intelligence improvement;
- Cognitive skills development.
Hence, despite some minor flaws, the general impression of videogames as a harmful activity is a misleading concept that should be proved wrong by the measurable results.
References
Boot, W. R., Sumner, A., Towne, T. J., Rodriguez, P., & Anders Ericsson, K. (2017). Applying aspects of the expert performance approach to better understand the structure of skill and mechanisms of skill acquisition in video games. Topics in Cognitive Science, 9(2), 413-436.
Gao, Z. (2017). Fight fire with fire? Promoting physical activity and health through active video games. Journal of sport and health science, 6(1), 1-3.
Griffiths, M. D., Kuss, D. J., & de Gortari, A. B. O. (2017). Videogames as therapy: an updated selective review of the medical and psychological literature. International Journal of Privacy and Health Information Management (IJPHIM), 5(2), 71-96.
Hegde, S. (2016). Developing hobbies for a lifetime. Journal of Social Welfare and Management, 8(2), 111-122.