This phenomenon is hardly unique to STEM students; driven young scholars in any disciplines often find themselves pushing away formerly beloved pastimes and pursuits in favor of more intense focus in their field of choice. Sometimes, this makes sense. Outgrowing phases and interests is just as universal an experience as realizing the sleeves of a sweater are too short or new shoes are in order. However, many students unnecessarily abandon parts of their lives as soon as their classes become too demanding or college application season is over. This is not putting away childish things – it is premature abandonment of oneself.

Colleges do not look for students with demanding and absorbing extracurricular lives out of some arbitrary desire for well-roundedness. The demand for biology majors who paint and computer science prodigies who also enjoy archery is grounded in the idea that the healthiest and highest-achieving students have diverse interests and skills. Tomorrow’s innovators and achievers may be driven and single-minded, but these qualities are enhanced by diverse interests and boundless curiosity, not hampered by it. In other words, the hobbies many students abandon are not distractions from their scholarly pursuits but enhancements of them. Creative and inventive play may seem to have little to do with a STEM career, but they encourage the curiosity and inventive spirit that make the best scientists so good at what they do.

The last few months have seen a proliferation of articles on the importance of free time and the negative effects of a culture of busyness on creative thinking. This article is not an argument for a rejection of a strong work ethic or the abandonment of focus. However, a hobby can be a way to hone focus and practice concentration while still detaching in some way from one’s primary work, a productive and meaningful use of free time that is still renewing and relaxing. Perhaps most importantly, a hobby can be pure fun, a source of the childlike enthusiasm and wonder that many tend to lose as they move into their adult careers.

The most obvious hobbies for STEM students searching for an outlet are STEM-related. Birding and stargazing have fanatical adherents; they are field biology and astronomy stripped of academic formalities. More active pursuits include gardening and tinkering, which with dedication and enthusiasm easily turn into small-scale environmental preservation work and invention, respectively. The importance and enjoyability of planting flowers that can help offset colony-collapse disorder or creating a new tool are probably obvious to STEM students; they have to do with their primary field of work and their goals are familiar. Even if they are less intuitively applicable, other hobbies and activities are equally worth STEM students’ attention. Music, art, intramural sports, and yoga all offer the same combination of restoration and recreation. A hobby’s ultimate applicability has less to do with its importance to a future career than its effect on the mind and the spirit.