Many hobbies have some sort of cost associated, I would hope materials to do the hobby aren’t necessarily seen as negatives.
People have been doing HAM radio (and learning it), electronics tinkering, woodworking, fishing, etc for ages. There are upfront costs to get equipment, although used stuff abounds, ongoing costs are materials or components that one wants. For some things once you get it working you don’t necessarily have ongoing costs.
I see commercialism as exploitive, just purchasing things not so much.