Cookiy Research · Qualitative · Gen Z Hobbyists · 52 Interviews · April 2026

They love the hobby.
Tools keep killing it.

Fifty-two Gen Z hobbyists told us what they do on a free afternoon. The pattern is the friction between them and the tool.

48 of 52 abandon tools that add friction to a hobby
a gen z adult sitting cross-legged on a bedroom floor with a phone and a sketchbook, editorial documentary photograph, warm afternoon light
a gen z adult sitting cross-legged on a bedroom floor with a phone and a sketchbook, editorial documentary photograph, warm afternoon light
Executive summary — three sentences
Gen Z hobbyists are pragmatists, not enthusiasts — they want the hobby to load fast and work. The biggest complaints are not about the hobby itself but about the tools around it: ads, paywalls, hyped features, and outdated instructions that break the flow. Brands that sell 'innovation' lose this audience; brands that sell reliable, transparent utility win a disproportionate share of time and money.
48/52DEMAND SIMPLICITY OVER FEATURES
44/52RESENT PAYWALLS AND UPSELLS
40/52DROP BRANDS THAT OVERPROMISE
34/52HIT BAD / OUTDATED INFO
Finding F01

Simplicity beats features — features are the product's problem, not the user's.

48 of 52 named simplicity, speed, or clarity as the top attribute they look for in a hobby tool. Complaints about 'too many features', 'too many settings', 'needs too much setup' appeared across hobbies as different as pilates, D&D, climbing, and meal prep. Gen Z interprets feature density as a lack of care for their time.

Product teams that ship a 'flagship feature' release every quarter are adding surface area the user reads as overhead. Churn does not come from missing features; it comes from present ones that slow them down.

"I prefer tools that respect time and don't interrupt focus, especially in a hobby where flow matters so much."— R7 · climber
Finding F02

Mid-flow upsells and paywalls are the single biggest trust-breaker.

44 of 52 spontaneously named an upsell, paywall, pop-up, or aggressive subscription as the reason they left a tool. The anger was not about the price — it was about the timing (mid-activity) and the opacity (unclear cancellation, hidden post-purchase cost). Once trust breaks, the tool is gone, not downgraded.

Freemium flows that interrupt the hobby to sell the upgrade are actively destroying enterprise value for Gen Z. The 'friction' to upgrade is not the inverse of retention; it is a leading indicator of complete churn.

"The experience felt invasive and eroded trust, so I stopped using it completely."— R7 · climber
Finding F03

Proven brands beat trendy ones — trust, not novelty, wins the cart.

40 of 52 said they prefer tools, products, or brands that have already proven themselves over anything positioned as 'new' or 'innovative'. They have been burned by reviews, hyped launches, and 'green' marketing that did not deliver. Proof beats promise; repeat purchase beats first purchase.

Brand launches that lean on novelty and aspiration reach a Gen Z segment that has pre-filtered them out. The acquisition cost is inflated by an audience that has already stopped listening to that register.

"Trust takes a while to build but breaks fast with surprises or slippery info."— R7 · climber
Finding F04

Group hobbies run on WhatsApp and Discord, not on new apps.

38 of 52 pursue a social hobby (soccer, dance, D&D, book club, climbing). Of those, the large majority said coordination is where hobbies die — but the fix was never a dedicated coordination app. The fix was the channel the group was already on: WhatsApp, iMessage, Discord.

Coordination SaaS aimed at Gen Z groups is competing not with a missing feature but with a social graph already in another tool. 'Better' coordination is not enough; it has to piggyback on WhatsApp or Discord to get installed at all.

"Simpler, familiar tools like texting or Discord worked better for us than fancy apps that felt meant for power users."— R30 · D&D host
Finding F05

Bad information is the silent killer — mismatched recipes, outdated routes, and stale how-tos end hobbies.

34 of 52 described a specific moment where outdated or inconsistent information (a recipe that did not match the video, a climbing route with stale access info, a DIY guide with mismatched steps) ended a hobby session or a hobby habit. Wasted time is the unforgivable cost; wasted money is a close second.

Hobby content and e-commerce that rely on user-generated or un-curated third-party data will slowly bleed out Gen Z users. They do not complain; they quietly go somewhere else.

"Mostly when there's a mismatch between what the recipe says and what the video shows — I ended up wasting food."— R2 · meal prepper
Coordination should be simple, but it's often not. — R5 · soccer organiser

Four archetypes

● The Solo Optimiser 13 of 52 "Hands-on, cheap, and you see what it does right away."
— R21 · car detailer
■ The Overwhelmed Hobbyist 16 of 52 "I just want something quick and simple that doesn't mess with my schedule."
— R10 · nursing student
▲ The Community Seeker 14 of 52 "It's this shared world we build together, which feels really inclusive if the group's good."
— R30 · D&D host
◆ The Side-Hustler 9 of 52 "I'm all about making my hobbies work for me financially."
— R31 · nail-artist side hustler

They love the hobby. They're leaving the tools.

Gen Z is not disengaged — they have run out of patience for friction. The product that respects their time earns their money.

Video brief · 38s

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