I wouldn’t go as extreme as you do with your conclusion, but I can agree that playing video games isn’t a hobby in the same way that reading books isn’t a hobby. But making games could be a hobby and writing books could be a hobby. It’s the difference between A force of passive v. Active engagement. Even if your mental faculties are heavily tied into your video game or book, it’s still not producing any actual output. Although they could aid in the output of actual hobbies.

Mullvad has been my only reliable vpn tbh.

I’m figuring this kind of thing out too. I’m taking a few steps in directions that I can, like using duckduckgo, migrating off of gmail, using this instead of twitter and alternative Reddit. Trying to enjoy blogs on the smoll web. The hardest part was family. I still have to use WhatsApp since that’s the one platform my family collectively uses. But I keep it on my botnet phone which I keep around for work. I still have one gmail but its main purpose is for backup and when I’m using YouTube. I’ve stopped keeping content tied to it, and I’ve stopped posting myself on social media. Making a website instead. Idk. You reach an age and social media apps stop being a fun way to connect with your peers, and becomes a liability.