I mean, computer games are a "silly pastime" too. Whether or not one feels grounded, it can also just simply be fun, and that fine. I've even enjoyed helping strangers solve genealogy problems because piecing together the evidence and ruling out options is just another type of puzzle and one that is often very challenging.

For "close" relatives, I agree there can also be more to it.

E.g. my mums mum never told us that much about her family (we never asked while she was around), and my mum didn't know either, and so uncovering more about that was very fascinating (it helped that there was plenty of drama to uncover) and helped fill in a lot of gaps.