Teenage Girl thinking of different ideas/plans                            

                         Hyper Jar 

The Hobby Problem

BY ARYA JOSHI

OCTOBER 30, 2026, 8:00 A.M.

As college admissions get more competitive each year, students are forced to tackle good academics with an excessive amount of extracurriculars. With little free time, students can't pursue the hobbies they used to love or discover new ones. The need to overachieve is something that has spread across high schools, and can be seen within EBHS’ student body. 

Students across the country are finding ways to make their own profit, most commonly through using their hobbies to create a business. A crocheter may start selling their projects to others to make money. Someone talented in photography could begin charging to photograph school events. A person who customizes shoes can put them up for sale. Starting to learn entrepreneurial skills, especially with a hobby a student is excited about, can create a growing passion for the rest of their life.  

“It would make me happy seeing others appreciative of their commissions”, said sophomore Alisha Joshi, commenting on how she would feel if she sold her drawings, a long practiced hobby for her. 

To some, profiting off of a hobby is a way to maintain and ensure that they never lose touch with it.. To make sure a hobby is never left behind, commitment is key. But why is it necessary to work to make sure the hobby isn’t forgotten?

It all leads back to the idea of productivity and extracurricular activities. If a hobby isn’t considered productive, then it should just be left  behind, because it is unnecessary, and when it is unnecessary, it isn’t worth doing. 

EBHS Student Anwesha Trivedi said, “These businesses have been the norm. Without a hobby also functioning as a job, students feel “inadequate” compared to other students”.

 The reason hobbies may not seem as advantageous to high school students  is that someone might not be using it to its full extent of profitability; an idea pressed into students’ brains from everyone around them.  However, even if a hobby isn’t fulfilling enough to pursue professionally, they should continue it for the enjoyment they get from it. Having that positive “work/life” balance is the only way to prevent burnout and increase productivity. 

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