I'd consider entertainment/relaxation more "essential" than crypto mining.
Some people use that money from crypto to feed their families and pay the bills. I'm talking about small scale miners of course. For them crypto is more "essential" than entertainment/relaxation.
Not everyone lives in the US or the other few bigger/richer countries...
Personally, I have a love-hate relationship with this silly money making tech. I did not like it and did not want to be part of it at first, but I was "forced" because of the stupendous rise in prices of GPUs (and other components too) to start mining on my GTX 1060 and 1080 last year.
I refused to pay more from my own pocket, so I said if I'm "forced" between waiting years to see if things come back to normal or pay 2x, 3x MSRP now, then I will choose to mine casually and make the GPUs pay for themselves and more.
And it worked, I mined casually 16h/day only (not at night), between gaming sessions and I managed last year to make enough money from crypto to buy an RX 6700 XT and Ryzen 5600X. Yes, I paid more for the GPU, but it was actually only 80€ over the MSRP of a top tier AIB model (which is more expensive than reference), but not that much more expensive actually, because I bought it when crypto had that crash in the summer and prices dropped to the lowest point all year. I paid 660€ for an XFX Merc 319 RX 6700 XT, which has an MSRP of 580€.
That does not mean I would pay 2x or more over the MSRP, even in these circumstance, I'm still not ok with that. So I always look for best deals if there are any, if not I'll wait. I don't just go and buy at any price now, because I mine and I have extra money to spend on this hobby.
So how should I feel about cryto now? You tell me...
I only have 2 GPUs (I sold the GTX 1060) casually mining and I don't intend to add more and make a mining rig, nor turn my house into a mining farm or anything like that. I just use them to pay for themselves and future upgrades, as long as this "new normal" lasts and still works.
I don't think we will ever go back to the pre-2020 world state again, in anything...