Mining is not what that should be regarded as a hobby. Or I can not consider it as a hobby. The reason for this is because I do not think someone will say he is mining bitcoin for pleasure. Hobbies are activities that you do for pleasure. Even if some people just like to be a miner and not benefiting from it, it is still not a hobby for such person because no pleasure derived from not benefiting from being a miner.
The pleasure I mean is the one that makes your hobbies to be recreational activities that can even benefits your health like riding a bicycle with friends, reading story books and novels, watching movies and sport events on TV et cetera.
I enjoy mining Bitcoin. I started doing it in 2011 and it has always been a hobby to me. I’ve had custom electrical work done to enable it, custom ducting, went solar, got a battery backup. I did all these things not to increase profitability or anything like that. I did it because I was having fun supporting a project I care about. I’m still solo mining for fun now and I donate all the coins I get to a community project. No concern about profitability whatsoever.
There are two sides to the idea of hobby mining that u bring up. Some may do it for enjoyment and some may do it to benefit from it. I don't think mining can be expected to benefit from this if it is considered a hobby. Hobbies are a different matter. We spend a lot of money to fulfill the pleasures of the mind but we don't get any benefit from it but we get enough pleasure from it. The pleasure of this hobby does not give us money but we spend enough money to get this pleasure.
If u are mining bitcoin for fun I can't agree because bitcoin mining can never be fun. It would be wrong to say that
BTC mining is a hobby, because doing Bitcoin mining means expecting benefits from it, which is why it cannot be a hobby mine. When u do bitcoin mining, u monitor the market yourself, if the price goes up, you feel happy and if the price goes down, you feel a little sad, so the idea of hobby mining with bitcoin mining does not seem logical to me.
On the other hand, those who have taken up mining as a hobby say that they are actually doing it with the intention of making a profit rather than enjoying it.
I think entertainment should involve you in something like playing games, various sports, traveling, etc. From which you will personally find joy.