“In our leisure we reveal what kind of people we are.”   Ovid

Colorado Springs resident Kevin Cook has more dice than anybody else in the world.

Since 1977, Cook has devoted countless hours and considerable treasure to obtaining more than 50,000 of the spotted blocks, each one in some way distinct from its neighbor. Cook doesn’t play with his dice, or realize financial benefit from them. Cook’s tumbling trove mostly abides unseen within an ever-expanding assortment of plastic storage containers. For Cook, the dice themselves are less important than their pursuit, and his chief satisfaction is in the hoard’s increase. Collecting dice is Kevin Cook’s hobby.

Everyone has a hobby, whether they know it or not. Most people have several. Hobbies like bird watching, stamp collecting and model trains are common and fairly standardized. Hobbies like spelunking, climbing 14ers and experimental aviation are relatively free-wheeling and appeal to a more limited demographic. The most popular hobbies are rarely recognized as such. Merriam Webster defines a hobby as “an activity done regularly in one’s leisure time for pleasure.” There’s enough latitude in that sentence to encompass all the free time in the world. If you’re not working, and not sleeping, you’re probably hobbying.

Done properly, hobbies are good for us. They can engage the mind, exercise the body and expand our world of interests. Hobbies can build self-confidence, which is why professional hobby consultants – yes, Virginia, there is such a thing – say you should pick as hobbies things you stink at.  As your expertise increases, so will your sense of accomplishment. Trouble is, grouse those whose hobby it is to tell the rest of us how to do what we’re doing better, too many people are choosing the wrong hobbies. Too many idle hands waste too much precious time on avocations that occupy the brain without nourishing it. In their view, the primary offenders are also the nation’s most popular hobbies.  

As of last year, 81 percent of Americans were logged on to at least one form of social media, making online chatter the nation’s top hobby. The average citizen regularly logs on to five forms of social media and spends almost two hours a day keeping up with them. Folks who love social media insist they’re a great way to feed the need for personal interaction. Folks who don’t denounce them as empty calories. The number of Americans using social media is expected to grow by five percent in 2018.

Far behind social media – but way ahead of Hobby No. 3 – is video gaming. Four out of five U.S. households contain a video game device, and about 42 percent of Americans play with it at least three hours per week. If you’re one of those who consider it kid stuff, consider that the average gamer is 35 years old. And anyone dismissing video games as a guy thing may be surprised to learn that 48 percent of women play video games and their average age is 42. Defenders of the gaming are quick to point out that their hobby sharpens eye/hand coordination. Its detractors are just as quick to remind that flipping playing cards into a hat does the same thing, but that doesn’t make it a productive use of one’s off-duty hours.

“Hobbies are apt to run away with us, you know; it doesn’t do to be run away with. We must keep the reins.”   George Eliot

As it happens, there are still a few Americans hewing to more wholesome avenues of self-amusement. According to a recent Harris Interactive poll, 26 percent of Americans identify reading as their principal pastime, making books the country’s third-favorite hobby. That should be great news to the scolds, and it is, sort of. Reading, they agree, can be very educational, and it doesn’t even matter much what you’re reading so long as you’re reading it “actively” and not just burning pages. “Active” reading entails thoroughly digesting the content as you go, mulling and savoring and re-chewing every morsel to extract maximum intellectual potential.

The same goes for the 15 percent of Americans who make watching television Hobby No. 4. For the “active” viewer, Jerry Springer re-runs can be packed with subtle layers of profound meaning. For lazy gazers, Masterpiece Theater is just big dresses and snooty accents.

Some 11 percent of Americans consider their main hobby “spending time with family,” although it’s fair to wonder if anyone in a family could avoid spending time with it even if they wanted to, or if chilling with the in-laws is typically done “for pleasure.” Next in the rankings, Millennials’ twin passions for organic foodstuffs and stylish thrift have pushed gardening ahead of fishing as America’s sixth most popular hobby. Team sports are the leisure activity of choice for about 7 percent of those polled, and about 5 percent spend the larger part of their free time on the golf course. Among other heart-smart hobbies, walking is favored by roughly 4 percent, while exercise classes, cycling, hiking and hunting all earn a 3-percent share of the national day off.

Crafts, camping, cooking, painting, woodworking and watching sports individually attract 2 percent of the hobby market, while bowling, pets and working on cars are each good for 1 percent. Interestingly, although about 4 percent list their favorite hobby as “listening to music,” only 1 percent chose “playing music.” That’s too bad, because for pure personal benefit it’s hard to beat being on the supply side of a song. A recent study conducted by the University of Zurich found that learning to play an instrument consistently and permanently raised the IQ of test subjects by seven points.

Having the biggest pile of dice in the whole wide world may not have made Kevin Cook a rich man, but it has earned him a self-congratulatory website, regular notice in the Guinness Book of World Records, and pleasant diversion in between must-see TV seasons. Fact is, the best hobby for you is whatever floats your boat, kayak or stand-up paddle board. About 3 percent of Americans consider the mysteriously non-specific “relaxing” to be their favorite hobby. Let’s hope they’re doing it “actively.”

“When your hobbies get in the way of your work, that’s okay; but when your hobbies get in the way of themselves… well.”   Steve Martin