Ask HN: Hobbies sans screen?

For the past year or so I've gotten into watch repair. Small tools, fine motor skills, mechanical wonder at what people were doing 100 years ago. Highly recommended, but be warned...it addictive.

If you're into music you could learn to play an instrument. It can be pretty expensive, especially if you take lessons (which I would recommend at first), and if you don't have time to practice regularly it's probably not the best idea. But it will give you a good reason to spend some time away from any screen, and it can be very rewarding.

If you're truly not wanting to become a desk sitter at home just go out and run, hike, walk, ride a bike. You know, something active. It may sound a bit over obvious but getting outside and exercise helps me get my mind off things and "reset"

I see you wrote "alone if necessary". I'll explain what I did, even though it's hard to do alone, then bring up some related alternatives.

Pair dancing. I started with ballroom dancing. It's an easy start because at the beginning it's a matter of following rules. However, social ballroom is rare, and a lot of it heads towards competitive dance at the higher levels. (It's easier in a college as many colleges have a ballroom dance club.)

There are many folk-related dances (contra, Scottish country, etc.). These are almost always low-key and informal. They usually meet in the evening/weekend afternoons.

Salsa dancing is, I think, the most popular of the pair dances. Even small cities usually have a place to go salsa dancing. It's what got me to start going to clubs on a regular basis. Rueda is a related dance where pairs arrange themselves in a circle and follow what the caller does. That can make it easier, because you don't need to think of what to do next, and there's less need for a lead/follow connection. (Which takes time to learn.)

Salsa dancing also rarely starts before sunset. (You can dance to salsa alone, btw.)

Swing dancing is fun, and energetic. It's less common because it requires more room. A large numbers of dances fit under the "swing" category; blues is much less energetic than Lindy Hop.

Tango is the hardest of the dances I learned. It took some serious study even after learning a few other dances. I think of it as the most improvisational of the dances I know. That's also because my tango includes aspects of salsa and swing, but not really the other way around.

There are other dances as well, as I start to move away from pair dancing: country western, breakdancing, African dance, modern dance, Hindi/Bollywood-style, popping, Kizomba and (mixing now with martial arts) capoeira.

Some of those you can definitely do on your own, at home, as well as in a group.

Consider the broad category of physical pursuits that capture your complete attention. I don't include cycling, running or lifting in this category because it's easy to stew about problems at work/home while you're engaged in those pursuits.

Mountain biking is a great example - at a sufficient level of difficulty, it really pushes everything else out of your brain and forces you to be in the moment (or crash). As you note, that's not an "every evening" option, so -

Maybe consider Brazilian Jiu Jitsu?

  - Every session is a holiday from whatever bullshit you've got going on.
  - It's a great antidote to sitting in a chair all day.
  - There's a strong problem-solving aspect to it, which can be attractive to hackers.
  - You'll immediately be physical with strangers which is a great ice breaker/trust builder.
  - Great for self-defence (and confidence), but there's no striking. (Important if you're pretty like me).
  - It may seem like an individual pursuit, but there is a strong team culture in good academies.
  - Macho douchebros don't last long in BJJ. It punishes ego. The culture is supportive/encouraging.
  - Most academies welcome drop-ins; it's a great way when travelling to meet some locals.
  - It's a great way to get to make friends of different age, sex, ethnicity, income, status, etc.
  - Competing is encouraged, but optional.
  - It's inexpensive, IMHO.
  - You're never too old or too out of shape to get started.
  - Most academies will let you try them out for free for a week or two.
  - Although it's a group activity, busy academies will have a class or two each evening.

Downsides:

  - Nobody will bother remembering your name until you've been around for a couple months.
  - You'll often be carrying some stubbed-toe level injury around (but you won't mind because...).
  - BJJ is addictive AF.

The subreddit has good info, with the usual signal/noise caveats: https://www.reddit.com/r/bjj