This week on All The Best, stories about weird and wonderful hobbies and what drives us to them.

Hobbies 

In our first story, a university student dissects recent Australian Bureau of Statistics data suggesting a gender gap in time spent on hobbies.

Molly Frew produced the story, which featured postdoctoral research fellow August Harrington, a psychology expert from the University of Melbourne.

Gaming 

In our second story, imagine trying to fit into the online gaming world with angry humanoid figures with scary eyes who may rant about entitled women ruining their hobbies. This piece reveals a female perspective on gender discrimination when gaming.

This story was written and produced and written by Arshia Anand.

Lego 

In our third story, after finding the Lego clubroom, an innkeeper from the club informs that the assortment of coloured bricks “can be used as a tool for mindfulness and relaxation.”

This story was written and produced and written by  Georgie Preston.

Boxing

In our fourth story, “Ding Ding,” boxing training is used to relax and distract some from muscle soreness and a waring body or mind.

This story was written and produced and written by Yuanyuan Zhang.

LARPing

Our final story involves escaping into the narrative of characters dressed up in armoured gear all in the name of Live-Action Role-Playing, also known as LARPing. 

This story was written and produced and written by Olivia Tan.

Today’s stories were produced as part of a collaboration between All The Best, the University of Melbourne and the Science Gallery. Unimelb Masters of journalism students created audio works relating to the theme of ‘distraction’. Special thanks to Louisa Lim, Mell Chun, Dan Semo and Corey Martin and to All The Best mentors Persephone Waxman, Thomas Philips, Lisa Divissi and Melanie Bakewell.

All The Best Credits

Executive Producer: Phoebe Adler-Ryan

Editorial Producer: Melanie Bakewell

Host: Madhuraa Prakash