Young People Realizing Older Generations Not So Bad As They Adopt Old-School Hobbies, Behavior

Young people are rediscovering the great hobbies and behaviors of older generations, which include knitting, gardening, and dabbling in arts and crafts.

Among Millennials and Gen Z, “grandma hobbies” are all the rage as young adults finally realize that spending all their waking hours glued to a screen is detrimental to their mental and physical health. Shocker! (RELATED: Kids Badly Need Old-School Traditions)

From the girls buying dumb phones to the girls knitting, crocheting, dabbling in the arts, homemaking skills for self study, the cozy gamers, to the analog girls, the bread makers, the gardeners, I love it all. Let’s take it FORWARD to a better time with all the things from the… https://t.co/XbqmOPTh35

— Jasmine The Great | Strategy & Stuff (@lmTheReasonWhy) March 11, 2026

Whether it’s knitting, gardening, or needlepoint, and other tactical hobbies like pottery, origami, and blacksmithing, that have all been associated with older demographics, young people are leaving their phones behind to engage their hands to relax and pass the time. As one young person put it, it’s like a video game, but in real life.

25th July 1935: A group of young women tend the gardens at Hornsey Baths, London, while a group of men watch. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images)

Over at the Daily Caller’s Substack, State of the Day, I recently wrote a piece on why kids badly need old school traditions, such as learning cursive in school. But I would extend that to younger adults, male and female.

Although I would be shocked and concerned if a young man took up knitting, many hobbies don’t involve playing video games, using your phone, or scrolling on social media. Golfing, coin-collecting, reading, running, cycling, fishing, hunting, etc. The list is endless.

All of these hobbies benefit one’s mental health, as well as one’s physical health. Apparently, studies have found that using your hands and keeping your grip strength strong increases longevity and can help prevent certain diseases.

Who knew that grandma or grandpa, who spent their weekends outdoors weeding, planting flowers, trimming the hedges, or fishing, hunting, and tinkering in the garage, were wise, happy, and engaging in healthy behavior — all at the same time.