Why Gen Z Has Become Obsessed With Cozy Hobbies

I’ve been getting back into crocheting recently. It’s a calming and highly satisfying activity that gives me something to do at night while I watch films that isn’t just screwing around on my phone. While visiting my local wool shop, I saw a lot of younger women in there searching for yarn and knitting needles. How cool, I thought. Gen Z-ers like knitting now. It wasn’t just those women either. While looking up projects and some puzzle book recommendations, I stumbled into the new Gen-Z trend, one that made me happy and that I 100% understood. That never happens with these dang kids. Welcome to cozy hobby time.

Cozy hobbies are defined by their analog nature and homely qualities. It’s hand-crafting like crocheting, felting, and embroidery; engaging in the natural world through outdoor activities or gardening; puzzle books, jigsaws, and crosswords; warm nights in with a good book; and low-stakes video games with a warm and appealing aesthetic. It’s a conscious decision to slow things down, to tear yourself away from an endless cycle of doomscrolling, and to do something that is small scale and typically old-fashioned. Cozy hobbies are a willing opposition to what is seen as the status quo of Gen Z life, meaning perennially online content guzzling. And hey, this millennial is thrilled to discover that she’s ahead of a young people trend for once.

The appeal is obvious. It’s calming but challenging, cute but not assembly-line identical to the current trends shoved upon Gen Z-ers (particularly young women), and it’s far more accessible than a lot of popular hobbies. Yarn and a hook can be purchased cheaply, and YouTube tutorials can help you get started at your own pace. That’s how I learned to crochet. There was no pressure to be perfect immediately, and all of the stuff I make is either for myself or people I love. It’s not a job. Anyone raised online at a time when you’re constantly bombarded with demands to turn your hobbies into side-hustles or optimise every second of your life knows how easy it is for things you love to quickly become tedious. Cozy hobbies is intended to be the antithesis of that.

No hobby is impervious to the bondage of the internet and its capitalistic forces, alas. Cozy hobbies has emerged as a social media trend and quickly been hijacked as another way to sell us crap. Colouring is a hugely popular hobby that has faced scrutiny for its perpetuation of overconsumption via pushing wildly expensive markers that can add up to literally thousands of dollars as Colortok influencers race to have the biggest collections. It’s an issue that’s dominated the book community too, and the yarn one. Just name a contingent of the cozy hobby trend, and the chances are you’ll find an unstoppable wave of Amazon affiliate links, Temu slop, and fleeting aesthetic trends. The internet does have an uncanny ability to turn everything into a sale, but I assure you, a real cozy hobby does not require intense financial investment.

Society has all but decimated third spaces and communities for young people. Libraries are being defunded. It’s so expensive to go to the cinema. Many people don’t live in places with accessible walking routes or greenery. Generations have been forced onto the internet in lieu of other options, and safe spaces within it are hard to find. If you’re 17, the chances are you’re being besieged at every turn by AI slop, toxic bros, body image propaganda, advertising, gambling ads, and an overtly filtered mirror world that demands you just keep scrolling. I’ve seen a lot of young people lamenting on- and offline lamenting that they don’t have any hobbies outside of social media, and that they feel stifled by it. There’s also an overwhelming fear of being seen as ‘cringe’, a term that is slapped on anything of vague earnestness. It’s a trap, and the only solution may be to get off your phone. Again, easier said than done when you’ve been told your entire life is on that thing (and it’s not something us millennials and older are exempt from. Believe me, I know.)

So, it’s no wonder that we’re seeing so many people returning to the kinds of hobbies that were once considered old-fashioned or for your grandmother. The softness of a night under the blankets as you play Animal Crossing or do some colouring is almost retro. But it’s also a way of breaking an addiction. None of us is exempt from the thrall of doomscrolling. How many times have you decided to just quickly check your phone before bed and suddenly found yourself an hour into a cycle of swiping down on a series of vaguely interesting content? We are in an endless war against an algorithm that wants us to be committed to it 100% of the time. Not for any productive reasons, of course. It doesn’t want you to learn or be curious or question it. It wants you to be boring and compliant. Being offline asks far less of us but offers so much more.

Generally speaking, I think it’s just healthy for us all to invest more in ourselves in ways that are not dependent on being online or stuck in a pattern of algorithmic worship. How exciting is it to see young people choosing to get off the internet and join a book club or teach themselves how to knit? Surely we should all be following in those footsteps to touch some grace? We only get one life, and I certainly plan to fill my days doing things that interest me and make me feel more interesting. Cozy hobbies won’t fix every issue ruined by our current system, but it is a quiet way to take back some of our personal space.