How do people have any interests or hobbies?

[alexthegreat]

I have no interests at all and I try to pass every day as fast as possible by playing video games which don't even interest me. How do people even find any interests at all? The moment I try anything I think, wow what a waste of time this is just in general, and then I just go back to laying around trying to pass the time as fast as possible.

 

[CynicalHopelessness]

I like programming, anime, video games and recently lucid dreaming and collecting attractive emotional states. I have sprouts of interests too which may or may not grow into something significant, but I'm just taking it very slow to not over-exhaust myself before they get a chance to grow:

• learning Japanese, few words a week
• doing chess exercises
• playing some trivial piano tunes
• reading some polular physics, chemistry and biology books and articles, writing out interesting pieces
• exercise few times a week, trying to push myself and see my limits just for a bit

I'm also collecting some ideas to co-write a medium-sized story with my good acquaintance some time later.

Honestly, the technique for finding interests I'm using-slash-trying is to take everything slow and try out different things that I enjoy a bit here and now with no zeal or perfectionism, and see how that turns out. Maybe it'll take a decade to build into something, maybe I'll get tired by some of that and drop it. I'm a person with fairly strongly suppressed desires and I can only hope that something works out.

 

[Grey-zone]

I have no interests at all and I try to pass every day as fast as possible by playing video games which don't even interest me. How do people even find any interests at all? The moment I try anything I think, wow what a waste of time this is just in general, and then I just go back to laying around trying to pass the time as fast as possible.

I've felt this way many years now (currently 29). So, you're problem or cognitive state is not unusual, I think--I really have no interest in using the internet that much, except for music and following news, etc... As for hobbies, I feel a lack of interest and focus in most things, even those I occasionally enjoy, such as reading. Exercise helps, as does music, which I've started listening to again after years. Music is a good place to start, it doesn't require much effort and, well, there's a lot of it. It's a "safe space" for the soul, in the best sense of the term.
Before COVID, I was working (bored out of my mind), but also going to Meetups. After more than a year I can say that these regular social events definitely helped me in some crucial ways, I felt like I had something to look forward to at the end of each week, and that feeling is worth a lot more than a paycheck.
I've also considered hiking/walking long-distance as a "hobby", although now unfortunately isn't the time to start trying.

 

[Woodnote]

I do the same. I've lost interest for most of the things I used to love.