Fun online hobbies you can start doing

Hobbies are a great way to pass the time, but for some people, there’s no time to pass – in other words, they’re so busy that having a hobby, let alone more than one pastime, isn’t possible. Or so they might think. The reality is that hobbies are important, and making time for them is crucial – and entirely possible, no matter how busy you might be. 

The internet made this a lot easier because there’s no longer any need to even leave your home to enjoy a hobby – and you don’t need any fancy equipment either (for the most part, at least). All you need is a laptop or mobile device with internet access and an idea, and you’re good to go. With that in mind, here are some fun online hobbies you can start (and do) at any time. Even if there’s nothing in this list that appeals, it will at least give you an idea of what’s possible and hopefully point you in the right direction when it comes to finding a hobby you’ll love.

Blogging 

Is blogging a hobby? Surely it’s something businesses do to keep up with their competitors and rank better in the search engine results? Well, it is about those things, but it’s also about a lot more, and it can be a wonderful hobby if you look at it from a different perspective. 

Blogging (short for web logging) was originally for individuals, not businesses. It was a way for people to organize their thoughts, and people used their blogs as online journals, noting the things that had happened to them that day and how they felt about it. Why not take things back to basics and do that for yourself? You can start a blog without having to pay for anything, including the hosting, and you can also keep it all anonymous if you want. You’ll have a blank canvas to write down anything you want and let out all your feelings – and if people happen to read it and understand what you’re going through, that’s even better (although writing a blog just for yourself is always the priority). 

If that doesn’t sound like fun, you can pick a specific subject that you’re interested in and know a lot about and start a blog on that topic. You can impart loads of fascinating information and enjoy that as a hobby, too. You’re still blogging, just in a different way. 

Gaming 

If there’s one thing you can rely on the internet to have a lot of, it’s games. And there will be all different kinds, from online solitaire to massively multiplayer online games (MMOs) like Roblox and Minecraft, for example. Whatever kind of game you like best or want to play at any given moment, a quick search, and you’re sure to find it – often for free. 

The great thing about playing games online is that you can be as social as you like – or not at all if you prefer. There are ways to interact with other players even if you’re in a different country, and that can make the game even more fun, especially if you come across the same players time and time again. 

Another benefit of online games is that they don’t have to take a lot of your time. Yes, you can play for hours if you want to, but equally, if you only have minutes, you can still enjoy them – or play them on a mobile device no matter where you are, ensuring you’re never bored and always have something to do. 

Learn something new 

When you think of a hobby, it’s probably going to be something fun and leisure-based that comes to mind, but the truth is that anything can be a hobby if you like to do outside of your day-to-day responsibilities. So why not add education to the list of things you can do online? It may not be a traditional hobby, but it’s still a fantastic one to take up if you think it will benefit you (and it probably will). 

Even if you weren’t one for school and didn’t enjoy learning in the past, if you choose a topic you’re already interested in, and you decide to learn more about it, that’s very different from having to learn and being told what to do or not do. When it’s your choice, learning can be a lot more fun and enjoyable and a lot less boring and stressful, so why not give it a go?

What is it you’re interested in and would like to know more about? There are so many online courses (both official ones that give you a specific qualification and less formal ones that are just about gaining knowledge – both are great options, and it depends on what you want to do next in life as to which one will work best for you) that even if what you’re interested in is quite obscure, someone will be offering a course in it. 

Fitness challenges 

Working out and exercising on a regular basis is something a lot of people don’t do even though it’s a great way to stay fit and healthy – perhaps the best way of all, in fact. They don’t do it because it’s just not fun for them, and they’d rather be doing almost anything else, so of course, if you’re one of those people, the idea of making a workout routine a hobby seems unpleasant, to say the least. 

But what if it could be fun? What if there was an online way to make regular exercise much more than a chore and turn it into something you’re excited to do instead? As you might expect, there is something exactly like that, and it’s the exciting option of joining in with fitness challenges. 

There are lots of apps you can choose to help you with this, but you can also sign up to be part of a challenge on websites through your laptop, so you can pick whatever you prefer. These challenges involve you doing certain things like walking a specific distance (or running) within a certain amount of time, for example. Or it might be a challenge linked to weight lifting, swimming, yoga, or whatever else it is you’re interested in. What’s fantastic about these challenges is that you can log your progress online, and very often, you’ll be sent medals and certificates when you hit your goals and milestones. That’s highly motivating, and once you start winning these prizes, you’ll just want to do more and more (which makes you healthier and keeps you entertained). 

Online cooking classes

If you’re going to have a hobby, choosing one that can help you in your daily life isn’t a bad idea, and cooking is definitely something that ticks all the boxes in that regard. After all, you need to eat every day, and it would be great to use your new-found skills in food prep, baking, or perhaps even menu planning to help you enjoy your food even more. 

Online cooking classes are a lot of fun and can be done in two different ways. The first is that you sign up for a class, be sent a list of ingredients you need to buy before the next session, then log in and start cooking along with the tutor and all the other class members live at a pre-determined date and time (often once a week). Alternatively, if you prefer to go at your own pace, you can try pre-recorded cooking classes that you can pause and rewind as you need to. It might be you start with the latter idea, and then, as your confidence grows, you start cooking at the same time as everyone else, for example. No matter what, you’ll develop some highly useful new skills and try some tasty new food at the same time.