Choosing a hobby for yourself can be a challenging task. Although you want a hobby that’s interesting to you, you may also want one that can be enjoyed with friends.
Some people enjoy spending their free time outdoors fishing, camping, hunting, and hiking. While others prefer to be indoors reading a good book or browsing online courses to hone their skills.
The popularity of these hobbies differs around the world based on individual preferences and cultural influences. For example, while angling is the most prevalent hobby in England, hiking is the most in-demand hobby in China.
The factors that make a hobby crowd-pleasing include:
- How easy it is to learn
- How fun it is to do
- How affordable it is
- How it benefits the environment
The following are the three most practiced hobbies around the world. The best aspect of these hobbies is that you can do most of them without spending a lot of money. Furthermore, those that require learning are easy to master.
1: Watching TV and Movies
Watching TV and movies is the most popular and common hobby around the world. In the United States, people tend to spend more time watching television than any other activity besides sleeping.
Looking at the numbers, an average American watches about 4.5 hours of TV daily.
The table below illustrates the popularity of watching TV per country.
| Position | Country | Average Time Spent Watching TV Daily in Minutes |
| 1 | United States | 270 |
| 2 | Poland | 264 |
| 3 | Japan | 262 |
| 4 | Brazil | 254 |
| 5 | Russia | 248 |
Watching TV is an extremely common hobby because:
- It’s easy to do because most services offer more than 500 channels.
- TVs have direct streaming services like Amazon Prime and Netflix, which eliminates the distraction of advertisements.
- More people can access YouTube, which has over 720,000 hours of video uploaded daily through their smart TVs.
Although watching TV and movies is an entertaining and easy-to-do hobby, it’s worth noting that it’s not healthy when overdone. This is because:
- It’s addictive. It increases dopamine production in your brain, making it difficult to stop watching.
- It causes social isolation in children because they spend less time interacting with others face-to-face.
- Binge-watching has negative health effects, such as back problems due to long hours of sitting and depression as a result of loneliness.
2: Reading Interesting Books and Stories
Reading allows you to escape into a different world and learn new things. It’s a favorite for many introverts.
In the United States, for example, avid readers go through an average of 12 books per year.
The popularity of reading in modern societies is driven by the diverse genres of books and reading materials available.
That means there’s a book for everyone, whether male, female, young or old. Some of the most popular book genres around the world are:
- Fiction: These books are about imaginary events and people. A good example is The Great Gatsby by Scott Fitzgerald.
- Non-fiction: These tell true stories about real people and events. Hiroshima by John Hersey is a good example.
- Biography: These books that tell the story of a person’s life. A good example is the Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand.
- Memoirs: They tell the story of an event or time. An example is Henry David Thoreau’s Walden.
Reading has many benefits, including:
- Helps you improve your vocabulary and communication skills
- Helps you learn about different cultures
- Improves your memory and focus
- Can also help lower your stress levels
Today, you can find books and other reading materials in libraries, bookstores, borrow from friends, or download eBooks and read them on your computer, phone, or tablet.
The person who deserves the most pity is a lonesome one on a rainy day who doesn’t know how to read.
Benjamin Franklin
Expert Tip: If you want to read more books, join a book club or start a reading challenge. This will help you stay motivated and accountable. Some famous reading clubs in the United States are Oprah’s Book Club and the Goodreads book clubs.
3: Working Out
Most people in modern societies want to keep fit and live longer. One way to achieve this is by working out.
As a matter of fact, 73% of the people in the United States work out one or more times a week.
Some universal workouts you can consider because of their benefits include:
- Running: It’s good for your heart, muscle, and lung health. It also helps you burn calories which aids with weight loss.
- Cycling: It’s good for your brain, heart, lungs, and muscles because it increases blood flow in the body. It also helps in losing weight.
- Swimming: It’s excellent for people who want to lose weight because it burns many calories. Swimming also boosts brain, heart, and lung health.
- Yoga: It’s a form of exercise that helps improve flexibility, strength, and balance.
Best Workout Practices
Working out is a great hobby, but it is essential to do it the right way. How is that?
- Find a workout buddy: Workout buddies help keep you accountable and motivated. They also make your workouts more fun.
- Create a routine: Having a routine helps you stay on track and makes working out less daunting.
- Set goals: Having fitness goals gives you something to work towards and helps keep you motivated.
- Make a schedule: Scheduling your workouts will help ensure that you do them because you have slotted the time in your calendar.
- Mix up your workouts: Doing the same workout all the time gets boring. Mixing up your workouts will make them more interesting.
- Take breaks: It’s essential to take breaks during your workouts otherwise, you might get injured or burnt out.
- Drink water: Drink plenty of water before, during, and after your workouts for optimal performance and to keep your body hydrated.
- Listening to music: Listening to music while working out will help you stay motivated and distracted from how tired you might be feeling.
The video below shows simple workouts you can do at home without any equipment.
Over to You Now
Watching TV, working out, and reading are great because they offer a variety of benefits.
Choose one of these hobbies that fit you best and stick with it to enjoy its benefits.
Check out the Small Revolution blog if you want ideas for other hobbies you can indulge in. The tips we share may also guide you to online entrepreneurship opportunities that start off as hobbies.
Frequently Asked Questions
What’s the most popular hobby in the world?
The most popular hobby around the world is watching TV. The main reason is that watching TV helps people relax and provides an escape from stressful situations.
What are the benefits of working out?
The main benefits of working out include: losing weight, improving cardiovascular health, building muscle mass, and reducing stress levels. Working out is also great for your brain as it helps improve cognitive function.
What is the least common hobby?
The least common hobbies worldwide are trainspotting, astrology, and quilting. Most people are not interested in trainspotting as a hobby because it’s tedious and requires a lot of patience. Astrology is less popular because most people believe it’s only a way to predict the future, while quilting is not very popular because it takes a lot of time and effort.
