I completely agree that mining is a hobby. The relationship between miners, their hardware, and popular coins, however, is much more complex. Just look at LTC vs ETH, where LTC was created as a GPU-miner's safe haven against BTC's ASIC revolution. Once scrypt ASIC's put GPU-LTC mining out of business, it faded. Now the new, popular coins (ETH, Zcash) are the GPU-friendly coins again. Entering crypto with a mining rig is a great way to support the network, learn something about crypto, and take some risk. I can agree with OP that individuals should not go forward with mining as a profit-seeking endeavor.