Here are my hobbies/interests that simultaneously get me off Social Media/Content Streams while giving me something to talk about/post about/watch about when I'm back. I may also have podcasts or youtube on in the background if the activity permits

Group A, the "touch grass" activities:

1. go on a walk
2. do some cleaning/organizing
3. spend time with people irl

That last one requires a lot of effort and rarely has immediate payoffs if you don't already have a friend group bigger that one or two friends, but it's so important and requires putting time into it and developing social skills. In fact, 2+3 both benefit from learning skills and shortcuts and habits; therefore they require just as much time and energy as any hobby.

Group B, the "what I do for fun"

1. "hacking" — pentesting computers and VMs, whether on HackTheBox, TryHackMe, Vulnhub, or someones one-off github-hosted machine; and of course so many online CTFs

2. "tinkering" — I like messing with the physical part of electronics too. Or mechanical devices. Or anything that I can dissect and modify

3. active listening to music — taking the time to listen and be carried away by music, maybe even start to analyze it. I know it's still technically "consuming content," but I consider it to stimulate a different part of the brain than, say, watching a random youtuber bring himself one mukbang closer to an embolism.

4. playing music — the world's shittest bassist. I'm not trying to be good, just have fun and improve my ear and dexterity and musical intuition

5. foreign language learning — good for the brain, good for someone who wants to travel good for jobs and making genuine human connections. Not fluent in anything besides english yet, but I'm always acquiring new vocabulary words when I can

6. Creative writing — Most of what I do anymore is just drafting elaborate shitposts to post online later, but I've been known to crank out parts of short stories and terrible poetry

7. Activism — I won't say where, when, who, nor why, but that doesn't matter. The important part is that there are few things in life more fulfilling than coming home after a long day of doing outreach/aid/[redacted]/fundraising for a community and/or cause you care about.

8. coding — of freaking course I'm also learning to program. You thought I was done with the electronics, but of course I had to sneak this in. You expect me to learn binary exploitation without having a strong understanding of programming? You expect me to do DIY hardware projects without coding the firmware? You've been absolutely HAD.

9. Worshipping the dark goddess [redacted] at the temple of [redacted] — a healthy spiritual aspect to your life has far reaching benefits that scientific medicine and psychology are only just beginning to scratch the surface of. Of course you don't have to start with worshipping [redacted], it can be as simple as cultivating a healthy appreciation for the beauty in every aspect of the natural world around you and the mystique of existence itself. Then later you can move onto the [redacted] sacrifices to make [redacted] [redacted] so [redacted] may once again [redacted] the earth.

Group C, the "dangerously close to consuming content" group, but still technically separate activities/skills

1. Armchair philosophy — we all do it, but I'm the only one who was smart/lazy enough to list it as a hobby. Unfortunately this does ocassionally learning about others' philosophy and the topics you're bullshitting about, which is why I say it's "dangerously close"

2. Media analysis — see previous... Okay, I got my degree in Literature + Language, I really enjoy deep analyses of media, and sometimes make my own. The act itself doesn't require consuming anything more than you already have, but if you haven't consumed any media in awhile...

3. reading — okay, I know, this is literally just back to consuming content, but... You don't learn how to do any of the above without some reading. It helps you learn a language if you read a story in your target language. it's the format most philosophy was originally recorded in. It's the medium writers have to learn to be good at their craft. It's what format most electronic/software documentation is in. It's how music was recorded for centuries before audio media. It's also just a fun activity that engages different parts of the brain and trains your imagination even when it's "just" fiction.

Hiking.

I like cooking, I get a lot from it, like the feeling of fulfillment etc

Rock Climbing/Bouldering. It’s great exercise, I throw in my earbuds, do my own thing, it’s a lot of fun. Don’t worry about being out of shape there are routes for all skill levels

If you played old PC games from like 1990s, dip your toes into that. Even if you didn't, still go check out the old PC gaming scene.

Hit up GZDoom with mods, Duke Nukem 3D, X-Com Apocalypse, SimCity 2000 and 3000 Unlimited, Shadow Warrior, Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, OpenTTD, etc.

I got into designing crosswords for a while. It was pretty fun to manually lay out a sheet of answers and think up clues for them. Also, reading theory.

cooking! finding out about good ingredients and how to make them even better! fermenting too...

One could argue that a boring life is the best one could wish for. Perfect time to make some kids. That's natures way to cope with that situation. :)

I do a lot of creative writing. Remember that what you write doesn't have to be "good" in order to be worth the time you spent doing it.

Knitting is super fun. I used to do it every day until I started my masters. I keep thinking I should restart this hobby. As long as you don't buy ridiculously premium yarns, it's super cheap too. I used to find boxes of yarn at yard sales or thrift stores.

I amuse myself with coding, and for the last couple of years, slowly teaching myself spanish. I know it's a little thing that will probably never matter to anyone, but it feels kind of cool that I can open mexican newspapers and not go "Wtf is this gibberish?"

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going outside, musing around, gazing at the clouds and plants and all

Playing any musical instrument. The feeling of your practice grindings pay off, no matter how still mundane it is to compared to social media professional musicians, is a pretty good feeling.

music is life <3