The rise of millennial hobby energy

Having trudged through years of burnout and work-centered identities, millennials are now diving headfirst into leisure pursuits with unprecedented intensity. In an essay published earlier this month, writer Anne Helen Petersen identified this phenomenon as 'Millennial Hobby Energy' — characterized by ambitious expansion, resistance to monetization and a distinctive aesthetic sensibility that transforms simple pastimes into branded experiences.

Petersen traces this pattern to millennials' formative experiences, where activities were valued primarily as achievements or resume builders rather than sources of joy. Now in their thirties and forties, many are rediscovering hobbies only to find themselves unable to approach them casually. From growing 500 dahlias instead of four to transforming a couch-to-5K program into marathon training, millennials tend to make their hobbies "big and ambitious," while simultaneously fighting the internalized pressure to monetize. The result is a contradictory relationship with leisure — one that's both liberating and exhausting.

While hobbyists have existed across generations, the millennial iteration reflects the unique pressures of life in the 2020s. As Petersen explains, millennials pursue their passions "under the long, lingering shadow of Covid, amidst the rise of local and global fascism, dependent upon yet resentful of digital technologies," alongside financial precarity and climate anxiety. This context transforms hobbies from simple pastimes into emotional lifelines — activities that make life "feel large" in an era characterized by uncertainty and constraint.

For brands, understanding this relationship provides insight into how leisure activities function as counterbalances to modern stressors. If emotional benefits — calm, flow, wonder, mastery — are now the core product, which fresh avenues does that open up for your brand? How will you adapt your storytelling, customer service and community engagement?