I disagree and I also don't think watching TV qualifies as a hobby. Hobbies are something you set out to actively do and you're OK being mediocre at. Sort of like a pretend-job where there's no real pressure, only the joy of experimenting with it.
Almost by definition, you want to excel at work. You're worried about promotions, being fired, hitting your goals, getting the comp number you wanted at the end of the year, dealing with co-workers you can't avoid, bosses, beating your competitors, etc. Hobbies have none of these things. Not to mention the personal responsibility of bringing home the bacon, even if you're not the sole breadwinner, balancing life and work, dealing with conflicting schedules, etc.
Learning to play the piano or to sail or to skate or to crochet are activities that can be challenging but you don't owe anything to anyone. You do it because it's a nice way to get your mind off the stuff that does stress you.
Well, there is a lot of people that die everyday having wasted all their lives working and hating themselves because they've never made time for themselves, even if they could afford to.
As hacker news has a bunch of hustle culture bros, such argument doesn't resonate much here, it is sad to say, but even though this community motivate a lot of individuals to take charge of their lives and get into entrepreneurship, innovation and great contributions to society, at the same time, some people also end up getting trapped by money/compensation and pointless work, doing stupid shit they dislike or doesn't like as much and many divorces and sad stories, which are very rarely shared here.
OP has mentioned that he is basically done with his obligations in life and is sad, and then this cryptobro comes here to talk shit that those hustlers do.
If you want to waste your life doing amateur climbing, bowling or doing art and living off tips and being homeless, AND YOU ENJOY IT, this is what you should be doing. There will be always the Elon Musk's that will have 10 kids, 15 wives, 7 girlfriends and a couple hundred billions, you don't need to become another one.
It is the humanities, arts etc that make us humans and gives meaning to our existence in the universe. It isn't shooting fucking rockets to space.
just because you feel work is the only thing that gives you purpose doesn't mean it's the only thing. Having material goods and producing material goods for others isn't the only purpose in life and a majority of people will not find true happiness out of this.
It doesn't mean that laziness is the way to go, but viewing having hobby's that don't produce something as a bad thing is an awful outlook on life and just makes you a slave to others.
I think you have it backwards. Working is distracting you from life.
Art?
Life is quite exciting with the right social group. Work is inevitably drudging away while an employer takes 98% of your output for themselves and gives you table scraps in return.
This is coming from somebody who turned his hobbies + passion into his work, and then narrowly avoided hardcore burnout after he realized the industry sucked and that the only things that matter to it are that which can be sacrificed at the altar of naked capitalism. That it is filled with a million idiots that all think they're right and are supervised by slovenly magpies that pour gas on whatever fire gets them the most KPI points with their superiors.
A lot of people find passion + work align. It's ok not to waste your time watching TV, sports, playing games, art, and all that stuff people do to distract them from life. It is ok for your hobby to be work.
There are just enough people who aren't driven to work, that it bothers them. I can work 10 hours every day, and enjoy working that way on the weekends. Life is boring - if you're in charge of work, it can be fulfilling.