Does geocaching ever become an unhealthy obsession?

Question

I try to govern my geocaching accordingly so as to not interfere with my work, family and home responsibilities.  Do you ever feel guilty or irresponsible with geocaching?

Answer 1

Sorry, have no time to answer, have to go caching...

Answer 2

Geocaching for me has become a weekend and holiday hobby. I'm not much of a FTF hunter, often not being able to just 'drop everything' and rush off. It does not make much of an appearance during my week, and therefore does not interfere with my responsibilities.

There are, however, geocachers who are able to dedicate more time to hunting and hiding than others. It all depends on your individual situations. Some people may have more free time in their lives than others. You must admit, it is not a bad thing to be outdoors more than often.

Geocaching is best enjoyed guilt-free, so it is important to manage your time wisely and make sure it remains a hobby.

Answer 3

Well, it depends upon your definition!! If you are missing work, missing family obligations, threatening your health, then YES. But I cache with my wife and occasionally our grown daughter. We are retired, so it is a great excuse to go out, get some exercise, see our new friends at events, and meet new friends!! We have gotten over 3500 caches this year, so people could say we are obsessed, but we are just out enjoying life!!

Answer 4

I think, although you can get obeseeed and even addiceted - still we are all having a healthy time outside (-:

Answer 5

thank you for this subject and the answers ... yes it is true that geocaching takes time and project-gc too ... my goal is to spend more time out than in front of the computer ... besides I go out , see you soon

traduit du francais par google translate

merci pour ce sujet et les réponses ... oui c'est vrai que géocaching prend du temps et project-gc aussi ... mon but est de passer plus de temps dehors que devant l'ordinateur ... d'ailleurs je sors, à bientot

Answer 6

For me, it's also just a hobby and sometimes it gives me a bit of inspiration - for example when I'm abroad, it helps me to find really interesting places.

But I have one friend which "has to" go to find some cache every day (because of the streak) and his family is really unhappy because he does it for many many years and there are no caches close to his city, so he has to travel a lot every day...

Answer 7

Well, I try to combine geocaching with family activities.

So my Family can travel or hike a little bit more than in the past in combination with some Caches for me.

So we found nice places in the last two years.

But yes, sometimes my wife is annoyed a little bit.

Answer 8

Rather than an 'unhealthy obsession', geocaching has certainly become a 'healthy option' for us as one of us used to be an athlete, but due to a leg injury and several operations later, they cannot now use running as part of a healthy lifestyle, but walking is still fine. We both still work (and put a lot of effort into that and our family and home), but we do enjoy planning whole days of caching, whether as long or short walks, or varied driving trips, home or abroad, and we always look forward to new areas and new challenges.

It is keeping us active (and indeed we are out in the open far more than we used to be), our knowledge (even of our own local area) is ever growing, and we often truthfully say to CO's "thank you for bringing us here - we would never have known about this if it hadn't been for geocaching!"

So an obsession it may be (?), but for us it's a healthy one, and we are happy with how it has fitted into our lives so well! So we very rarely feel guilty or irresponsible!

Answer 9

Like any pastime, it's important to have balance between geocaching and other priorities in life, like work and family and friends.

Early on, the temptation on vacations was to hunt for caches, especially if we were exploring another country or state. Even though geocaching was my wife's idea, I became much more involved than she did in a short time. I quickly learned to tone it down and make geocaching a part of vacation and not its focus.

I also learned early on that the FTF side game is best for those who do not have regular work schedules. That helped temper my initial disappointment.

That said, my job is great for caching. I travel often enough that it helps take me new places to cache, even to Iwoto (Iwo Jima) once, and I don't have to worry about clearing out all the caches near me since we move every couple years.

At the end of the day, it's a healthier obsession than, say, watching sports. It's a lot easier to include my wife and daughter on the occasional cache hunt than to expect them to enjoy a football game on TV.

Answer 10

I often get told i have an addiction (by the Mrs). Caching is always something i do in my spare time. Luckily i have a lot due to not having children and working 12 hour shifts.

I dont feel bad about caching :-D

Answer 11

I recently wondered myself but would answer no - one aspects I had not seen so far is that geocaching has brought a number of new friends and people I meet, apart from the going out and doing sports aspect. I also tried to use nice caches as a travel guide and found quite a few interesting places that way I would not have come across otherwise. One may have to maintain the balance, yes, everything can be overdone probably, but I see this as a very minute danger in this case.

Answer 12

I'm sorry I do not have time to answer any more questions. "I Must cache, there is only caching and nothing else".