Welcome to The Trend Report: Business Edition™, a midweek look at top stories, trends, and more of what’s happening online and off by Kyle of The Trend Report™. Today, we’re Kylie Jenner killing the whismy trend, Target’s racism costume scandal, why young people are using “polyester” as a put down, and a local trend that turns train catching into an epic journey.
👀 Trend Watchers: Hobbamory? Hobbymaxxing? Apparently people love their activities
At the top of the month, the New York Times dropped a very New York Times story that turns human behavior into a trend: they invented the term “hobbyamory” as way to share people are engaging in multiple hobbies “over” dating. “Rather than spending hours swiping and messaging on apps, these singles are investing their time, energy and disposable income in passions like rock climbing, cake decorating and cyanotype printmaking,” the story explained, to which I say: people are doing normal things, the difference being there is an entire economy of things-to-do that are the cultural equivalent of little treats, a million micro-items to fill any and all moments of pause, to prevent any lingering existential hunger or any moment of pause. The volume of such “hobbies” may be greater than ever, but it brings me back to how something like cooking classes were big in the 1990s as they were in the 2000s and 2010s as they are now: it’s a common story, complicated by dating woes and our trying to log off. All this may be my cynicism expressing itself, but that doesn’t void that people are doing various little activities to pass the time, as my inbox is constantly fielding PR pushes about these hobbies, be they run clubs (in London, with Waka Flocka Flame, or while high) or mail clubs (@montymailclub, @dannypenev, @reggiedesignco). As if on cue, Pinterest just dropped their 2026 hobbies report which cites trends like home cafés, secondhand hunting, and zine making. They even acknowledged a very “hobbyamory” trend of casual crafting, of people opting for “hands-on hobbies” that don’t need a full studio, giving pottery and terrariums space to shine. Is all this related? Sydney Stanback, the brand’s Global Trends and Insights Lead (who I talked to a few years back about their reports), weighed in via email —
What we’re seeing through Pinterest is that hobbies are increasingly becoming less about being “good” at something and more about exploring who you are and what brings you joy. People aren’t necessarily looking for one defining passion — they’re collecting interests, trying new things and building identities around the things that make them feel most like themselves.
That’s part of what makes the idea of “hobbyamory” interesting, even beyond the dating angle. The growth of hobby culture points to a broader shift toward embracing the many sides of ourselves rather than feeling like we need to have one singular identity or expertise. From our perspective, the rise of these multi-hyphenate hobbyists says something pretty optimistic about where culture is headed: people are giving themselves permission to be curious, try things simply because they’re fun and continually reinvent what their free time looks like.
“Permission to be curious” is key, particularly in these overly tech-y, overly “informed” times where things like AI force you onto a path and things like social media continue to enable cultural homogeny. Taking on hobbies to express yourself does indeed play into micro-moments of activity but also is an expression of self-care that is thrust into action and in a social setting versus something sedentary and alone. If anything, “hobbyamory” isn’t a trend itself but a trend of trends. How will you make space for people to come and play while engaging with others? Wouldn’t it be fabulous if you or your brand is the reason that someone met their future spouse?
📓 NYC Diary, III: Starting to get into a swing
I’m starting to settle in, seeing friends and getting to know the city, as if dating. I’m trying not to over-glamorize or over-blow the relationship! But instead, playing it cool, acknowledging it less as a fantasy place and more a real place with real people that I am now a part of. It has largely been good! Next week starts house hunting (literally) and job hunting (for Bobby Aaron Solomon), as we get our hands on deck to fully root ourselves. A few observations from the past few days —
Everywhere in the city feels like it takes 40 minutes to get to, which is likely due to our being in Greenpoint and the G being particularly finicky. That means planning for more time in travel versus Barcelona’s 20-minutes-to-anything state.
I’ve noticed that seeing flags and signage that are red, white, and green in the city no longer connote Italian immigrant runoff like Italian restaurants but increasingly is signalling Mexican cultural items. This is a big change, likely why there was the whole Little Italy “scandal” earlier this summer: the new immigrant community with the greatest impact now seems to be persons who are Mexican community who, a hundred years later, represent who has come to America for a better life. This is obviously a macro-American trend, hence Trump’s war on immigrants.
CitiBikes are cool but not cheap, as I took an electric bike from Greenpoint to Nolita as it turned a 40 minute train ride into a 20 minute bike ride — and it nearly cost $1 a minute. That is…a scam? I did get the yearly pass, as my bike is still in Spain and the bikes are efficient, but you will not catch me on those electric bikes again given the price. Why are the bikes even “sponsored” if they’re going to be so expensive? Maybe this is all ignorance on my behalf, but I’ve not encountered city bikes in any city as expensive as these. Not London, not LA, not Paris, not Barcelona. A bummer! Which explains why people have their own bikes.
We went to the New Museum and PS1 and The Whitney, which I’d rank in that order by how fabulous they and their shows are right now. The New Museum’s revamp was nothing to brag about as certain fixtures were fixed with tape, elevators didn’t work, and too many areas were inaccessible, making a $25 visit to see a disparate and pessimistic show about humans-and-tech feel like a waste of everyone’s time. PS1 took a younger, more localized idea of something like a biennial and turned it into an NYC-area who’s who, a celebration of the artists and creative minds defining the city. It felt like an intimate Made in L.A., which I mean as a compliment. The Whitney continues to be my favorite local museum, and I was so lucky to slide in to see the Biennial in full before it started to close, which I am very tempted to write about in length as it was one of the best synthesizing of modern life — capitalism, national identity, environmentalism, collective loss — while trying to retain our humanity. It also very much captured how art and culture based solely on identity (or “identity politics”) is deeply out of vogue, as few works (and so little of the good works) spoke to one identity but instead sought intersections with ideas like colonialism/gentrification, climate change, and technology. If you missed the show, you really missed something special.
