Most people do this so that they can eat the rocks afterward. They are shiny and very nutritious, and it strengthens the teeth. It's normal for some teeth to break off during this phase, but a) you already have colorful rocks to replace the teeth with, and b) old broken teeth can now be placed inside the tumbler for smoothing. 9/10 geologists agree that unsmoothed teeth that aren't made of rock are the number one cause of oral hygiene problems
You can train the smart ones [1], and even wirelessly remotely control them with a mobile app [2], as long as you restrict yourself to commanding them to do things they were going to do anyway, just like cats.
Kudos to the Stoned Republicans of the High Frontier Panel and The Heritage Foundation for their groundbreaking earth shattering work on Smart Rocks!
>In March 1988, Teller and Wood were able to directly brief President Reagan on the concept, taking the model pebble with them and theatrically hiding it under a black cloth when reporters were allowed to take pictures. Teller reiterated that the price for the system would be on the order of $10 billion.
Indeed spending time on things that bring you pleasure but other people may not understand isn't part of that grind mindset, if you aren't grinding you should be sleeping and honestly if you are sleeping a healthy amount you aren't grinding enough.
Or something - "because I find it enjoyable" is a perfectly self contained reason as long as you aren't hurting anyone else (or yourself).
Gronk think, did man become so obsess with grindset that even forget like shiny rock? Even word based on grind stone. Once was, whole economy based on like shiny rock! Special ritual, give shiny rock for marry girl. Human like shiny rock seem very basic thing. Gronk wonder... what we become?
I have several children in my life who are going through a shiny objects phase. I ask them to give me rocks that they like, and then I tumble those rocks for them. They really seem to like it.
People like the way they look and feel, and I imagine they get some satisfaction out of having turned a rough rock into something beautiful. They put them in their house where they can admire them, and others can admire them. Many are probably given away as gifts. Some might be used to create larger works of art, such as earrings or other jewelry.
Lots of people use the end result in some other hobby like jewelry or other crafts. The stores here that cater to tourists are filled with things made from/with local tumbled stones, mostly agate. I considered getting one for a mancala set but we have a lot of rocky shoreline and river beds, finding well enough polished stones in the required shape/size is not all the difficult.
My son and I get a kick out of it. For a while he was selling them on the street outside our town home, and that was absurdly lucrative for him. He has made around $200 so far. I'm pretty sure it's because he's cute. In any case, it's just a fun thing to do and experiment with, learn, and explore.
I've also thrown a bunch into an aquarium as 'river stones', because it's illegal to take them from rivers here and buying them is way too expensive. Those are just bland, small pieces of dark granite to simulate the environment the aquarium is modeled after.
After carefully weighing, cataloging, chanting, and valuation, the custom is to skip them into river of their birth. (This is why river rocks are so smooth.)
