damn, 30-50$ a night sounds really expensive to me for some reason. I just came back from backpacking in Southeast Asia. I went to 5 different countries and stayed in hostels in each country. I paid for rooms that ranged from $4-$12 a night at most. Well, that was because it was split between a couple people, but if you're paying $30-50 a night yourself for a hostel, it seems a bit pricey. But I guess you really can't compare US hostel prices to the hostel prices in Asia. The living standards are so much lower here.
I would highly recommend staying in hostels if you plan on traveling for a long time though. Nothing wrong with it and it's a really good way to save money. Maybe switch it up a bit if you get tired of the conditions in hostels (since a lot of them have shared bathrooms like dorms). Stay in a fancy hotel for a few nights, then switch it back up to hostels. My two cents.