Finding time to relax and destress as a Poly student is no easy task, especially during heavy weeks of tests and projects. I’m sure we’ve all felt the recent tension spreading across campus amidst the presence of finals. However, with summer close enough to touch, I suggest you try something new and relaxing in your free moments: Grandma hobbies! Yes, I mean knitting, baking, scrapbooking, gardening and everything that aligns with the on-the-rise grandma-core trends popping up all over TikTok and Instagram. It may seem slightly frivolous, but studies have shown that grandma hobbies can be incredibly beneficial towards improving teens’ mental health, helping to combat anxiety, depression and loneliness.
Hobbies like knitting or crocheting allow us to take a break while still feeling like we are using time productively. I get it––it’s not always easy to relax and allow yourself to have downtime when there’s so much on your plates, but with these kinds of hobbies, you’re more likely to enjoy a pause since you gain a crucial, relaxing reset from it. Grandma hobbies sometimes oppose the expectation that we must always maximize our time, but they also remind us that time is still well spent doing something slow, quiet and meaningful. As a bonus, creating something of your own craft can be deeply rewarding, like finally finishing that scarf or seeing your flower patch bloom with creativity.
The satisfaction and catharsis we derive from these activities is especially important when we feel overwhelmed in our academic lives. It is admittedly challenging to keep up with the high expectations that Poly not only tasks its students with, but also the expectations students put on themselves. Knitting, scrapbooking or crocheting, however, do not come with the same stressors and expectations, allowing us to try something new and put our effort into something that doesn’t lead to burnout and anxiety. Exposing yourself to new kinds of hobbies has extremely low stakes compared to the pressures a student is used to dealing with.
On top of the low-pressure fulfillment you can get, engaging in traditional hobbies to learn a new skill improves your cognitive health. Grandma hobbies can vastly improve memory and problem-solving abilities. For instance, more manual tasks like sewing and knitting require focus, dexterity and recollection. Additionally, gardening fosters physical activity and mental strength through planning and tracking the growth of your own plants. Learning new techniques, whether baking, crocheting or any of the many grandma hobbies, sparks your interest, tests your brain and reinforces neural connections. And, as an added benefit, engaging in grandma hobbies can help ween students off screen time addiction; A recent study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed that roughly half of teenagers (50.4%) spend 4 hours or more daily on screens. You can easily minimize screen time by engaging in a new, offline hobby.
However, the biggest selling factor of grandma hobbies is not just their ability to improve health, but that they are genuinely enjoyable! You shouldn’t underestimate the amount of fun that these hobbies can provide, because the best part is, you don’t even have to be good at them! Even if your creation is a hot mess, I promise you will enjoy trying something new. So, grab a cookbook, maybe some knitting needles and channel your inner grandma!
