I find most of the hobbies very useful. Many technical wonders have been found accidentally as the side effects of a certain activity. But for everyday people I consider gardening, needlework or saving money, mushrooming as useful hobbies. People can make a profit from these activities and most of the time its healthy as well.
People pick up hobby because they want to relax and do something for their health. I can say that all kind of sports, listening to music are good for health. Some hobbies like hunting, travelling, golf, paragliding or collecting antiques are extremely expensive because when we pick up such a hobby we need special equipment which is not cheap at all. For example when you want to be hunter you need a scattergun, small-bore rifle, ammunition, special clothes, boots, special permission to shoot the animal and a lot of money for the other things.
One big group of hobbies is collecting one. People can collect everything from small things like model cars or boats, stamps, beer mats through bigger things like chiming clocks, teddy bears and porcelain up to proper cars, guns and army equipment. People who have started collecting are mainly obsessed with this activity. They have their special swap meetings they often visit jumble sales or they just ask their friends to look for these things in the shops. This hobby doesn't have to be expensive when you know where to look for the nice pieces for your collection. But sometimes people are able to give a lot of money just to have what they want. Many people like watching television or sitting in the pubs or gambling or playing computer games. I find these activities as the waste of time hobbies because you don't do anything for your health and you don't create things or meet people. You only waste your time because you don't know what to do or you are addicted to your PC and games.
It's always very nice when family takes up a common hobby and all members do things together. I think that we should help these people to find something what they would like doing and prevent them from doing their previous activities.
4. What do you think of the idea: 'My work is my hobby.'
A lot of specialists say that it's good when our work is our hobby because it entails us friends, satisfaction and education in one. But its not always like this. There are many people who are not able to draw a line between work and pleasure. I don't know anybody who is like that but you can see many girls on TV who wanted to become models just because that was something different and amusing and now they find it hard and it's not fun any more. Some people are lucky with their jobs because they do what they wanted to do before. These people are mainly artists such as actors, painters or singers. At the beginning their job is fun for them but later at a certain stage of their career they might become depressed or they can start taking drugs or become the alcoholics.
We can find workaholics even among the ordinary occupations. For example PC operators or electrical engineers. They repair or service computers but when they get home they do the same thing at home or for their friends and it can become tiring. So I think that we should always be careful with our job and privacy.
5. Is having a hobby a waste of time? A purpose or a necessity.
Having a hobby is a purpose and necessity as well but never wastes of time. Our mothers tried to push us into the various activities when we were young. That was a purpose because they wanted us to find something that would fill our time and we didn't find boring. When we didn't like it we could drop it at any time until we weren't satisfied. These activities had a few advantages. Our parents didn't have to keep an eye on us because we were with our teacher and us educating ourselves. We found many good friends, too. When we grew older and bigger we've started to look for an outlet from everyday stress. Our hobby becomes a necessity. Every person has to do at least two different things because otherwise she/he can become crazy or mad. No one can do one thing all his/her life. As for money it's never wasting when you do something you really like and enjoy and it doesn't bother other people. It doesn't have to be a huge amount of money but you should please yourself from time to time. So I think that having a hobby is a very important thing and no one can live without it. My hobby in the past, later and now.
6. Popular hobbies in the past and nowadays
Nowadays it's quite popular to learn foreign languages especially English, smoking, keeping a pet, keep fit in the gyms or gardening, playing the PC games or chatting on Internet.
In the past people did more gardening, they were meeting and talking to people and had more time for each other.
But no matter what we will still have hobbies and we will still look for a relaxation, joy and happiness.
