There are a few untold benefits of being a doctor’s spouse: free food, fine cocktails, and small talk with disparate characters. At one event, a reception for new psychiatric residents, I sat with two other doctors’ spouses discussing house projects and summer vacations. When I left to get seconds, I returned to a conversation about knitting.
To me, the potential tedium of knitting induces anxiety, but to them, it was exhilarating. It was an activity that required a single mind such that they could not talk while focused on their needles. They had a hobby.
Our Current State
Unfortunately, hobbyism is in decline; more than half of American leisure time is spent watching TV. Standing as an example, my class (I’m a school teacher) had just finished a discussion, and with the material covered and not enough time to start anything new, I gave the students a moment of free time. About six or seven of them stood up, plopped down on bean bags, and spent the next few minutes showing their screens to each other.
