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Hobbies As Escapism
Sunday, 4 December, 2011
A podcast about using hobbies as a form of escapism. "Voiceover: In today's 21st century society, most, if not all people have some form of hobby which they practice on a daily basis. But why? Is it purely recreational, or is there a much deeper reason that is ignored by society, or even by ourselves? Is there a reason that particular people are drawn towards the practice of certain activities, or is it purely coincidental? Dean: I'm Dean robinson, and my hobby is gaming Rachael: I am rachael, and my hobby is pretty making music which I do in my room and occasionally making videos and photoshopping things as well. Voiceover: First of all, I decided to look at when it was in the subject's lives that they first began to get into their particular hobbies. Was it something they developed as children, or was it more of a case of discovering these things as young adults? I also decided to investigate what it was specifically that the individuals loved about their hobbies. What was it that attracted to such specific activities? Was it simply that they were just genetically programmed to enjoy such things, or was it something else? Dean: For most of my life I think. There's been a lot of the time whenever I was younger I used to go down to one of my mates house, he had an N64, I never had one, which,which was a real bummer to me back then because it was one of the prominent game consoles of the time. So many good games on it and it was one of the main reasons that me and him were good buddies, we hung out a lot and played “Goldeneye”, “Super Smash Brothers Brawl”, games like that. It was awesome. Rachael: Pretty much throughout my teens, I first got photoshop when I was like thirteen and I just started teaching myself how to edit things from there and.. um music kind of came along when I was about fifteen when I first got a microkorg and that enabled me to do a lot more than I had done before and video's much more recent, that's just since I got a 550D at the start of term and I just like messing around with that and making little videos basically.” Dean: I think it's a mixture of being immersed in a world where your real life self isn't really that relevant anymore. You're in there, you're taking the role of someone else, you're becoming the person, you're in the thick of the action. Just really, really like it. Rachael: they enable me to like be creative because I just find that's like a really good way of getting my mind off things that are maybe like bugging me or weighing me down a bit and it's just nice to not think about that. Voiceover: After hearing slight hints that the subjects had been using their hobbies as a method of escapism I decided to investigate further, and to try and find out if this was the deep rooted reason behind their choice of hobby. Dean: I kind of feel that it's a escape from my normal everyday life, I can get immersed in a different role take up things, do things that i'd never have a chance to do, as I am now. That's just what I feel. Rachael: I think I'm just naturally gravitated towards more creative outputs, because, not particularly ever been into sport at all, like, quite the opposite so, anything creative kind of grabs my eye easily. music changes Dean: yeah it definitely is, I tend to play a lot of RPG's like role playing games, that's where like, they're set in fantasy worlds and stuff, you take on a characters role, you try to become the character, you act out as that character would, and I just feel like it's so immersive, it just takes away from how you're feeling at the minute, how, eh life is reflecting on you and you can just go and express yourself in any way shape or form.” music reverts back Rachael: Yeah, I'd say that's definitely true 'cause I mean when I'm at uni I hardly actually get time to do those things but when I do it I enjoy it a lot more. For example over summer, because we had such a long summer I spent so much time just making music and being as constructive and creative as I could be and, yeah its definitely its nice when you have a lot on your plate to like kind of make things to get your mind off it” Voiceover: When both subjects confirmed that this was the case, I asked them to talk more about it, feeling that I had potentially uncovered something important. I then decided to ask both subjects if they would recommend using a hobby as a method of escapism to help with any kind of bad mood or troubles the individual could possibly be facing. The answers they gave me were quite surprising. Dean: Aww yeah big time. Eh, like recently I've been playing a lot on a “Minecraft” server called “Lord of the Craft”, it's a very very heavy RP server, and it seems like since I've stepped into that world that I've kind of almost lost myself in it and I'm spending so much time there it's almost like an alter ego that I've got on that server. I've met so many friends there, and i've got in contact with quite a few, and I'll probably be meeting up with quite a few in the future as well. It's such a social thing. It really does take away from everyday life, any troubles you're having and, it does help you cope with some of them problems too. Rachael: Yeah definitely do. I think a good example of that would be during the summer I was quite fed up and kind of sad at times over stuff that was going on in my life and I definitely used music as a way to get around it because I wrote a lot of music and I made so much music over summer compared to what I had kind of during term. And its just nice because when I do that I, i'm using like the kind of negative energy to like do like something constructive rather than moping which is what I would do otherwise. Dean: It does have a recreational aspect to it. It just depends on what kind of mood I'm in, what kind of game I'm playing. Like if I'm, say I'm playing a football game, it's more for recreation. It's not so much that I'm going to become a football manager it's just for the fun of it, for the thrill. But whenever I seem to play RPG's or even a “minecraft” server, it seem that it becomes a lot more serious, a lot more deep. Like the meaning, it means a lot more to me than just playing a football game, or playing a shooting game. Rachael: Yeah I think that's definitely the case I mean I definitely feel like there's sort of an emotional connection because I think that's just the nature of anything creative or artistic is that it is relative to how you feel when you do it. I mean obviously if i'm making music when I'm not in a great mood it's gonna reflect that. And it's the same if you're making videos or if you're taking photos or.. it's very emotionally connected. Dean: Oh yeah totally. Eh, I do feel like there are some people who erm, may not have had like the same, like eh, childhood experiences playing on certain consoles, or playing consoles at all. And some of the times I feel like they've kind of missed out on a bit of, a bit of who they could be or who they could have been. Like I find it's such a, such a relief and maybe it's a bit of a distraction as well from any real life issues but I feel like, it's positively affected me so far, in my life and I expect it to be much more of the same as I continue through my life. Rachael: I would definitely recommend that, I mean my friends when they come to me sometimes, because a lot of them are into the kind of similar things as me, if they tell me that something's bugging them or that they're upset about something then i'll always kind of encourage them to like get some sort of project on the go to keep their mind off it and a lot of them do it do it and they tell me that they felt a lot better for it, and people have said the same to me as well so, it definitely works. Voiceover: With everything that you've just heard, it's very difficult to argue that hobbies cannot be used as a form of escapism. So next time you're feeling a little bit down, or stressed, or anything else unpleasant for that matter, why not try your best to make yourself feel better by engaging in a hobby. It certainly seems to help some people, so there's no reason it couldn't work for you. It's worth a shot right? I would like to extend thanks to Rachael Grant and Dean Robinson for letting me interview them."
