When does a hobby turn obsessive?

The two questions it leaves me with is: how can one be satisfied with what you have when there's always better? And ... should you be?
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I think it depends from person to person. Some people HAVE to have the best of everything. Some people are happy with "good enough" and they choose what that means. Apparently I'm an overthinker... so I spend a lot of time weighing pros and cons and and and.

For example with one of my hobbies (music) I have "decent" guitars. I have a PRS SE Custom 24 (which cost me R6k with a case in like 2016). Going from that to a "core" USA edition would definitely be "nice". They are prettier and have higher quality components, but the price jump is like 10x... the quality however is not 10x greater because of diminishing returns.

You CAN go "full send" and have a ton of fun WITHOUT going full bankruptcy. lol

Notable hobbies include
- tracking my bike - was going to the track twice a month at one point, eventually even did an endurance race. Unfortunately life intervened and the bike is gathering dust at the moment.

This started with my road bike on road tyres. As I got faster I slowly invested more into the hobby. First tyre warmers because then you aren't wasting a lap or two where you aren't sure of the grip. Then cut slicks. Grabbed second hand fairings which I rattle canned and got a friend to cut vinyls.

A lot of people get into track riding and immediately go full empty wallet - full spec track bike with all the trick bits, slicks, warmers and and and. And then they are slow AF.

- fly fishing - had a gazillion fly, tied em too - used to go often. My fly fishing buddy moved away and my gout started acting up summin terrible.

I still use the same rod my dad got me when I was like 19. He bought someone's old kit from them. I've gone through a lot of flies. Also started off wading the rives in my rockys (sandals). Slowly got more stuff like waders, made a wading stick, got a fly jacket. etc.

Again... you don't NEED a R5k fly rod to catch fish...

- gaming - led me to streaming and even becoming an emissary for a game. I was in the telegram group when the famous "true believers" line was dropped. loooool.

- music - played for many years in numerous churchs/youth bashes. Played in a few bands.
 
When does a hobby become obsessive? For me it is me and many of my friends in Joburg and Pretoria and surrounds.

We love and obsess with Lego. Some build sets released by Lego. Many build their own creations, ideas, and, collaborations. So many of my friends are obsessed in building their own creations, they make my displays look mediocre.

Regardless, between building Lego sets for my own pleasure and friends do amazing creations, we are all truly obsessed with Lego.

For many of my friends and me, we are all collecting and building sets we love. Obsessed? Definitely. We love it. We love the social aspect too.
 
It’s something I’ve never understood personally.

I do the research and buy the best thing for my purposes outright.

If it means I need to save years for it then so be it.

Some of the things I have, people think are outrageous, but I only buy once and retain for a very long time and use all of it.
 
I have watched some sidemen do those unboxing of the expensive packs that cost £1k I never understand why people pay so much money for those trading cards I think they start as hobbies then you get one that's worth a lot of money and before you know it you are buying another one.
 
obsession for one person, passion for another. I think it's good to have something that interests you, everyone should have something, and it's something another person would call obsessive if they don't like it.
I guess if it hampers you from having a healthy relationship or life, or harms someone, it's not good... otherwise it's just semantics depending on the perspective.
 
Creag said:
When does a hobby become obsessive? For me it is me and many of my friends in Joburg and Pretoria and surrounds.

We love and obsess with Lego. Some build sets released by Lego. Many build their own creations, ideas, and, collaborations. So many of my friends are obsessed in building their own creations, they make my displays look mediocre.

Regardless, between building Lego sets for my own pleasure and friends do amazing creations, we are all truly obsessed with Lego.

For many of my friends and me, we are all collecting and building sets we love. Obsessed? Definitely. We love it. We love the social aspect too.
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Are you part of ZAlug?
 
SauRoNZA said:
It’s something I’ve never understood personally.

I do the research and buy the best thing for my purposes outright.

If it means I need to save years for it then so be it.

Some of the things I have, people think are outrageous, but I only buy once and retain for a very long time and use all of it.
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Difference is you remembered to set brain on in options.
 
purple face said:
I have watched some sidemen do those unboxing of the expensive packs that cost £1k I never understand why people pay so much money for those trading cards I think they start as hobbies then you get one that's worth a lot of money and before you know it you are buying another one.
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Purple Face has men on the side (of what?), and she's not in South Africa? Or did the AI forget its currency settings?
 
Urist said:
obsession for one person, passion for another. I think it's good to have something that interests you, everyone should have something, and it's something another person would call obsessive if they don't like it.
I guess if it hampers you from having a healthy relationship or life, or harms someone, it's not good... otherwise it's just semantics depending on the perspective.
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That's the thing, "hamper" is a low bar. Does somebody feeling deeply unhappy with their specialist coffee grinder and wishing they had more money for the new model they're eyeing out, hamper their life compared to the person happily chucking in some instant coffee and moving on with their day? Many a coffee nerd has sacrificed their happiness on the alter of the "perfect" shot of espresso. And I'm sure things are no less dire in the competitive LEGO community, now that that has been mentioned here. Imagine not having the latest limited edition blocks. Sure you're alive, but are you living?
 
Between hifi, motorbikes and golf which are 'hobbies' (?), my approach always is to get 'high end' equipment, but weighed against value for money. Affordability also sometimes comes as a consideration....I have limited funds.

I'd spend e.g. R1300 on green fees at a top course like Pinnacle Point, but refuse to pay R2200 green fees to play Arabella.

I gladly pay for a BMW GS bike, Ping golf clubs, but will I pay R500k for a bike or R80k for golf clubs or R1m for a sound system? No! Save for having reached a point of diminishing returns above what I have already, the value and affordability factors outweigh sensibility at that point.

For me, a hard barrier to spending more on a 'hobby' would be when I would need a loan to be able to buy my toys. It is cash for a toy, or stay without it.
 
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Foxhound5366 said:
It's a fine line, isn't it? One moment you're just saving for a nice camera, and the next moment you're trying to justify a new lens that costs more than a few of your bond payments.
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I once found myself in a similar situation. I asked myself “What the hell am I doing?”, and decided to fix this.

So I got a bigger bond.
 
Pax said:
For me, a hard barrier to spending more on a 'hobby' would be when I would need a loan to be able to buy my toys. It is cash for a toy, or stay without it.
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I like this idea. I mostly stick to this, except I have been known to snap and put a whole Xbox or laptop onto a credit card before, lol. Also how does a cellphone contract factor in? Technically it's a new tech toy on a loan. Same for car loans.

But yes, I think I'm going to try stick to the principle of hanging on for some personal hobbies until I can just pay for them cash outright.
 
When you watch a lot of YT videos about your hobby then you want to splash out on all the new goods you need...
 
Zanonad said:
When you watch a lot of YT videos about your hobby then you want to splash out on all the new goods you need...
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Oh hell yes, YT just struggles to figure out what I'm interested in because it changes so frequently lol. My feed is gun and car reviews next to coffee machine and hotel reviews. Always keep them guessing.
 
Generally I don't have this issue but I know plenty of people with spending issues on hobbies. However there was one game I got hooked on during covid that was a Pay to Win style mobile game that was very expensive. Ended up dropping about 3K on it over 18 months and looking back every cent was a waste. That game was a bottomless pit for very little value in the end. My spend was minor compared to the whales of the game. The top spenders were dropping thousands of dollars a month to maintain top position. Read stuff online about people in Europe etc who spent 100K+ in Euro on the game and realized after family interventions they had to stop and then they were weeping at how much they wasted on it. Games can be designed to be crazy addictive and the loot boxes can be very much like gambling addiction. I'll never play a game like that again.
 
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