> the entire world of books, hobbies, technology, etc. is available to you

As I said, this is something people who live in about five cities think. Congratulations on living in one of them for your entire life.

Most of us had to do something like look in the yellow pages for a martial arts school, discover there were none, and be sad. Hell, I live in one of the ten most populous cities in the USA, and there is literally zero chance to play squash because there are no facilities in the entire city.

I couldn't watch anime beyond Sailor Moon until I was 17 and went off to a summer camp at a university in a big city. My roommate happened to have loads of knowledge and a big collection, which he graciously shared with me. He'd, of course, acquired it all with the Internet. Something unavailable to me.

Now extrapolate for hobbies that don't require a physical space, where you can find others on the Internet, even if everyone in a hundred mile radius of you thinks that hobbit is for "queers."