Almost everyone
seem to talk about them in the same breath.
Here I have
tried to dissect the two terms, bringing out the subtle differences for better
understanding.
First let us read
the dictionary meaning of both terms
Interest:
·
The
feeling of wanting to know or learn about
something or someone or
·
The
quality of exciting curiosity or holding the attention or
·
An
activity or subject which one enjoys doing
or studying
Basically,
an interest is something one likes to do or something that one has a feeling
for.
Hobby:
·
An
activity done regularly in one’s leisure time
for pleasure
It is a
spare-time recreational pursuit. It is an action, something one does. Usually,
hobbies need devotion; it is something that has to be done systematically.
Interest has a broad scope which includes hobby. If one has
an interest, they may or may not develop it into a hobby. If someone is
somewhat interested in something, he may not pursue it actively.
For instance, most of us are interested in sky diving, but not
many have done it even once or one may not play football but watch and read a
lot about the sport as her interest lies in it.
It is also true that in order to
pursue a hobby one has to be interested in it.
"Hobby is an
interest which has been pursued actively"
