It’s never been easier to commodify our leisure time. But as some once-passionate hobbyists have found, turning play into work can really dull the joy
My mum started crocheting a few years ago. Retirement, coupled with the arrival of her first grandchildren, compelled her to pick up the hooks, and soon she was churning out more blankets than she knew what to do with. My siblings and I urged her to sell them online. “We’ll set you up on Instagram! We can call the account ‘Sewn by Sue’.” Our mother, folding her most recent creation, scoffed at the idea. “Why would I ruin a perfectly good activity by turning it into a business?”
Perhaps it is my age (31, millennial), or the ever-rising cost of living, or the omnipresent role of social media in my life, but the last decade has often felt like an unending pursuit to monetise my every waking hour. Stumble upon a new interest? You can bet I’ve thought about how to charge for it. And I’m not alone – a 2021 report by ING found that 48% of Australians surveyed have either started, or are planning to start, a side hustle.
