We've probably had this thread, but I can't remember it. How much do you do completely non-utilitarian things, and what are they? Wondering mainly if any subsets of us have anything in common, and/or if as a group we tend towards anything. I have a fucktonne that I pursue in theory:

improv
contract bridge
kickboxing
Brazialian Jujitsu/submission wrestling*
League of Legends (recently started due to a friend - trying to only play as a social activity over Skype with groups of friends)
Cuban salsa**
Line style salsa
Learning Japanese***
Memorising poetry (typically pre-20th century structured rhyming verse, the more melodramatic the better)
Writing poetry
Yachting****

* haven't been able to regularly get to lessons for a couple of years now, but I still love it in theory
** on deliberate hiatus til I purge it from my muscle memory enough to learn line style properly
*** again more theoretical than practical
**** In that I went on a yacht once, and it was one of the most enjoyable things I ever did

I am also finally have time to start teaching myself programming, though that's primarily for utilitarian reasons.

Awesome!:D!

Dancing, break dance, popping and locking.
Parkour/ L'ADD (more like running around and climbing trees and ruins and whatever)
Eskrima*
Mounaineering/Sleeping outside*
Civil Defence (voluntary first aid/rescue/help out in the community organization)
Life Guard training (RLSS if anyones wondering)


*Not really atm, esp. the Eskrima which I've only really started, and now stopped.

I know Parkour, but what's L'ADD?

Music (indie, classical, electronic, bluegrass, country, folk, hardcore, dancehall...)
Cinema
Novels
Table tennis
Internet
Video games

Oh! I dabble in DJ-ing too, badly, recently.

I did this last night (its not very good); http://soundcloud.com/ruair-donnelly/sh ... aky-levels

L'ADD is L'Art Du Deplacement, "freerunning" was just a word invented for the tv show "jump london", basically I think L'ADD is the politically correct thing to say. Apparently it was around before and stuff, it would be nice if people used the correct words because because everyone uses them interchangeably it's kinda leading to people not knowing what Parkour is. Tbh I dont know all the history but if you google it you'll find it or I can link you if youd like

Listening to audiobooks of all sorts and trying to educate myself through whatever other ways that I can. Fairly utilitarian, though.
Listening to heavy metal.
Internet.
Magic the Gathering.
Warhammer fantasy (I've done some game design for this game as well).
Collecting clothing.
Going to alternative nightclubs.

unrelated hobbies:
Blues & folk guitar
Listening to rock, folk, blues, indie, funk music
Spectating starcraft

related hobbies:
finance
philosophy

Playing on the computer
Reading
Reading on the computer

That's about it.

Video Games
Reading
A regrettably large amount of TV
Some tabletop RPGs
General learning of random things that aren't relevant to making a big difference, e.g. history.

Of all my vices I found TV very easy to give up - so easy I actually did it by accident. I guarantee you living in a city like Oxford, if you can give away your TV (admittedly harder if it belongs to a housemate) you won't miss it.

Slight way of binding yourself into it in a share house is to say you don't want to pay for the licence fee any more - then you'll feel guilty if you do end up watching it

Playing the piano is my biggest non-productive activity. I majored in music, and it would be hard to give it up. I like all sorts of music and have a fondness for bangy (or "percussive" in the lingo) 20th-century classical.

I recently started going to the beginning dance class that my parents have been attending. Actually, I went for the first time last week, so it doesn't really count. But it was fun.

Why would you give it up D: !

I've found it pretty easy to give up things that I've spent a lot of time on. In grade school and junior high I was into chess, but I haven't played a game in years. I was into juggling for a longer time, maybe ten years, though I wasn't serious about it. I haven't juggled since I graduated from college, where there was a juggling club.

I might be able to do things that are more productive (in terms of increasing the welfare of others) than music, but that are similarly enjoyable. I remember hearing somewhere (I think it was in Stumbling on Happiness) a relevant (fictional) story.

There was this professional cellist. And he got his thumb stuck in a blender, or whatever, and he couldn't play the cello anymore. For six months he was depressed. And then he figured out that there was more to life than playing the cello. There were other things he was good at, and other things he enjoyed doing. So his mood returned to its previous level, though his missing thumb attracted stares.

I think not playing the piano would be pretty easy, since it's not central to my identity, and there are other things I enjoy doing. Sorry for going off-topic!

That reminds me of another habit I have: reading self-help books and then not changing anything about the way I behave.

Edited previous post in which I claimed to have given up 'history' rather than 'TV'. Not sure how I managed that..

@Pat + everyone; Do we not all do many things which arn't directly utilitarian but without which we'd be unhappy and less productive? A significant amount of my time is spent doing unrelated hobbies.

Yes, but I doubt many of us spend (even our best guess at) the precisely optimal amount of time on them for maximising productivity.

I agree with Arepo. I didn't mean to suggest that we should give up all leisure activities. My point was narrower. Let's say you're deciding whether to engage in activity X or activity Y. X and Y are equally enjoyable, but Y is more productive. Y is probably the better choice, even if you've invested a lot of time in X. In my case, it might make more sense to exercise more and play the piano less, since both activities are enjoyable, but exercise would probably make me more energetic, while playing the piano wouldn't have this extra benefit.

If you've invested a lot of effort in something, deciding to give it up is hard. But if you do, you might be surprised at how little you miss it. I played the clarinet in a school band for 7 years. After I graduated, I stopped playing it, and I didn't miss it. I probably won't give up playing the piano, but I might practice half an hour a day instead of a full hour.

One thing that I don't understand is why many lawyers and investment bankers work 80 hours or more a week. Are they superhuman, unaffected by lack of sleep, exercise, and leisure time? Do their workplace cultures motivate them, so that even somebody of ordinary willpower and stamina could survive for a time in such a job? Are long hours just part of the culture, so it doesn't matter that the workers are not especially productive?

I suspect it's a combination. I'd bet there's a strongly inverse correlation between being an investment banker and eg the number of hours you need to sleep each night.

The hobbies which are still semi-active:

Listening to metal
Going to non-metal nightclubs
BJJ/SW/(MMA)
Weightlifting and running
Board-games
Meditation
Quantified self/self-improvement, programming (partly non-instrumental I think)

Less common:

Juggling
Taking up a bit of magic.
Movies (top movies, worst movies, SF/horror/fantasy)
Scandinavian skiing

Did various sports, reading, studying, gaming and playing activites in the old days.

Ooh, this is a cool thread.


1) Playing board games (German-style, e.g. Settlers of Catan).
2) Starcraft II
3) Magic the Gathering
4) Reddit
5) Listening to music (mostly alternative/rock)
6) Hanging out with friends (sometimes)
7) Wasting time on the internet

Other than philosophy the three I sink most of my time into are

Rock Climbing/working out
Video games (RTS are my favorite)
Music

I find the phenomenon of "eargasm" surprisingly valuable (intense pleasure from certain types of loud music).

For me, a portable mp3 player has been one of the most cost-effective hedonic enhancement techniques. (It also reduces the boredom of travel).