CodingCuber
Veteran
Cubing is a hobby for most of us and we do it because it is something we enjoy. A question that has been popping up quite a lot recently is what practical purpose or use does cubing serve. Is it just a useless hobby that we do for a bit of fun or does it offer a greater, broader benefit?
The first (and probably most obvious) benefit is the social aspect of cubing. Competitions, meetups, clubs, SS forums, Reddit all let people with the same interest connect and exchange ideas and thoughts. This also stands true for most other hobbies however, from my experience cubing is something much different. Cubing is something where no matter if you're sub 8 or sub 2 minutes, someone will be happy to talk. If you take something else like golf, for example, there isn't much to talk about between a pro and a novice. Social skills are extremely important so I struggle to see how anyone could disagree with this having a benefit.
On the topic of making an income or employment, of course cubing doesn't offer much other than sponsorships which still don't offer enough to make cubing a full-time job. I don't see cubing ever becoming something that people can make a living from but hey, there are a lot of odd things people do for a living so who knows?
This has been widely discussed on reddit especially and people have given some excellent benefits that they have gotten out of cubing.
In the first example, u/pier4r6 talks about how cubing has mental health advantages as offering something to focus on, taking your mind off other things and allowing you to destress. They talk about how solving faster can help people set goals and this made me realise that cubing helps set positive work habits and routines too. You might have a goal of a sub 10 ao5 and you decide to try and plan cross+1 for 30 solves every day to improve efficiency. This exact same way of thinking can be applied to school, work or anything.
Source:
In the second example, u/Fast-Pitch-9517 tells us how demonstrating a solve in a work interview impressed his interviewers and landed him the job. Although this is somewhat debatable as a practical use of cubing, it's still worth a read. I won't go into detail but u/Fast-Pitch-9517 makes a good point at the end of his post, saying:
"From an interviewer's position, it shows that the candidate 1. Is able to autonomously learn a difficult new skill later in life, 2. Possesses some degree of high intelligence, and 3. Is able to perform under pressure; all attributes essential to a high-performing attorney."
Source:
I thought this was pretty interesting and couldn't find any other threads about this so here you are. What other benefits do you think cubing offers?
The first (and probably most obvious) benefit is the social aspect of cubing. Competitions, meetups, clubs, SS forums, Reddit all let people with the same interest connect and exchange ideas and thoughts. This also stands true for most other hobbies however, from my experience cubing is something much different. Cubing is something where no matter if you're sub 8 or sub 2 minutes, someone will be happy to talk. If you take something else like golf, for example, there isn't much to talk about between a pro and a novice. Social skills are extremely important so I struggle to see how anyone could disagree with this having a benefit.
On the topic of making an income or employment, of course cubing doesn't offer much other than sponsorships which still don't offer enough to make cubing a full-time job. I don't see cubing ever becoming something that people can make a living from but hey, there are a lot of odd things people do for a living so who knows?
This has been widely discussed on reddit especially and people have given some excellent benefits that they have gotten out of cubing.
In the first example, u/pier4r6 talks about how cubing has mental health advantages as offering something to focus on, taking your mind off other things and allowing you to destress. They talk about how solving faster can help people set goals and this made me realise that cubing helps set positive work habits and routines too. You might have a goal of a sub 10 ao5 and you decide to try and plan cross+1 for 30 solves every day to improve efficiency. This exact same way of thinking can be applied to school, work or anything.
Source:
In the second example, u/Fast-Pitch-9517 tells us how demonstrating a solve in a work interview impressed his interviewers and landed him the job. Although this is somewhat debatable as a practical use of cubing, it's still worth a read. I won't go into detail but u/Fast-Pitch-9517 makes a good point at the end of his post, saying:
"From an interviewer's position, it shows that the candidate 1. Is able to autonomously learn a difficult new skill later in life, 2. Possesses some degree of high intelligence, and 3. Is able to perform under pressure; all attributes essential to a high-performing attorney."
Source:
I thought this was pretty interesting and couldn't find any other threads about this so here you are. What other benefits do you think cubing offers?
