Yeah, hobbies are totally “rackets young people fall for”. LOL quite the controversial statements you are making there!
Not really sure about skiing, I guess snowboarding is more like that. Geek culture is a big one right now, with Star Wars, Harry Potter and all that stuff is on the rage – to like it is cool, and it might be an indication.
Of course, not everybody does it for these reasons, but there are plenty of "nomadic" people who like it only because it gives some benefits of social approval.
On the other hand, can't materialism and approval-seeking be positive in some aspects? For example, materialism and keeping up with the Joneses' incentivizes people to continue working harder and getting better jobs, thus helping them stay the course to prosperity and keeping high-paying jobs, or motivating them to get better jobs.
I know the same argument can be made that materialism causes people to be over-spenders and end up in a whirlwind of debt, but for myself, I think I might have had more goals and been more motivated when I cared about those things.