has really turned "picking up a hobby" into "selecting and purchasing the correct gear, talking about the gear, and deciding which gear to purchase next".

Thank you for saying it so clearly.

I used to love reading a few subreddits where I would get tips and advice on doing things that I love doing, like /r/snowboarding /r/photography /r/overlanding /r/vandwellers /r/cycling

and all of them have devolved into exactly what you describe. Endless discussion about purchasing new & expensive equipment to do said thing. Extremely minimal discussion about actually doing said thing.