Food Stamps

In the second post of what’s a four-part series, we examined how spending time with friends is related to “money can’t buy happiness”, and how this affects food stamps users. Today, we’ll see how money, food stamps, and happiness are all connected to hobbies.

Hobbies: Indulging in your interests and passions is vital to becoming a well-rounded person. For proof of the opposite, think of anyone you know doesn’t do anything in their lives, and what their perspective is on handling life’s problems. Do they make mountains out of molehills? Chances are overwhelmingly yes, they do, because when a person has nothing else going on in their life, each incident—no matter how small or large—takes on utmost importance.

Transferring that to hobbies, the media constantly inundates the public with messages about how you don’t need money to have a good time. Look at Titanic, one of the highest-grossing movies of all time. Rose doesn’t really start to have fun until she sheds her family’s wealthy idea of it and joins Jack in a rousing party in third-class. Or take Bruce Springsteen or Jay-Z, who built entire careers singing songs about how despite a lack of money, they still enjoyed life. Even professional athletes constantly profess that they’re playing their respective game because they love it, not because of the money.

Except that you, well, need money to do any of that. Want to enjoy a free hobby like playing guitar or drums? You still need to shell out for the instruments themselves, as well as either sheet music or a computer—plus monthly internet costs—to look up tutorials. Right off the bat, there’s a few hundred dollars for a “free” hobby.

You also need money not just for the hobby itself, but also for getting you into the shape necessary to enjoy it. How much do you think you’re going to want to knit for three hours after you’ve just spent the last 6-8 sleeping on a mattress so bad, even Goodwill won’t take it? Back pain makes it awfully hard to focus on something that gives you pleasure, and the dominant thought won’t be on painting a fresco, but more immediate, primal thoughts, like getting to a state where the slightest movement won’t cause a twinge.

A third thing you need is time, something many people on food stamps don’t have. Think kicking around a soccer ball is a great way to pass by an afternoon? Sure, providing your job—if you have one—lets you take a few hours off to indulge in non-work activities, or if you’re even lucky enough to only have to work one job that’ll pay all the bills.

Instead, you plan to indulge in your hobbies after work, or on the weekends, except here’s the thing: you’ve been working more hours than the average person, only for it to amount to half of what they make. Hobbies are designed to be fun, but having fun takes energy, something that is just not there after a 12-hour shift on your feet with a one-hour commute each way.

So no, you don’t need money to have hobbies, but only if you’re interested in whistling Christmas tunes. Even something like watching cars drive by on the street or pondering life’s big questions requires you to first be in a state of comfort (ever tried to sit outside on a winter day for two hours to watch cars? You need to either shell out for a really warm jacket, or make enough money to rent a place that’s warm), a necessity that calls for money.

But when you have money, it can buy comfort and leisure time, two essential things for being able to enjoy hobbies and feel good about yourself.

In Part III of this four-part series, we’ll look at how being on food stamps affects the future, and what kind of role money has to play in that.