I'm from America and I also dislike it because it's usually a rude question often used by small-minded people to pigeonhole others into presumptive stereotypes or by people who don't put much thought into substantive or genuine conversation. It's also sometimes a passive-aggressive question really asking "How much do you make?" by cheap materialists.

Alternatives:

"What do you spend time on that you enjoy?"

"How or where did you meet 'x'?"

"What's the most interesting, counterintuitive thing you've learned recently?"

[Insert situational-led curious question here.]