On Pinterest

by Kylee Walton

I love Pinterest.

The app where you can find inspiration and ideas from others by saving different photos and videos (pins) to a board that you create. You as a user can also create pins of your very own. The Pinterest website calls itself a “visual discovery engine,” and is honestly one of its kind, as I personally haven’t seen many other apps like it.

I started using Pinterest years ago, initially to make boards for video games and collect fan art for them. As the years went by, my use for Pinterest morphed from fandom purposes to aesthetic purposes. Now I make boards for different outfit ideas, meal ideas, journaling ideas, potential haircuts, etc. Pinterest has become more centered around my day to day life.

I’d say that I’m pretty against doomscrolling, but using Pinterest does count as doomscrolling. I usually go on it when I first wake up, when I’m in the bathroom, when I have five minutes to spare before going somewhere, when I’m waiting for my name to be called at an appointment, whenever I can. All day long I can try to make an argument for why Pinterest is the one social media app that can do no wrong, but I would just be lying to myself if I did so. Like everything else, there’s pros and cons.

You can build communities on Pinterest without exactly interacting with other users, and I think that’s a pretty magnificent thing. You flock to this one image that encapsulates everything you want to be, and the people comment about how they love the purse or own the shoes and recommend them. You’re able to catch tiny glimpses into people’s lives just through these small comments.

Pinterest, though, can make me feel bad about myself. When I go on the app, I’m surrounded by all this unattainable beauty. Not necessarily physical beauty, but rather the beauty of how people spend their time. When I realize that I don’t do these things others are doing, I start to feel like I’ve failed. All the time on Pinterest I see these images of people reading in their expansive home libraries, in their cozy offices, in their kitchens while drinking a hot Italian styled coffee. I see images of people writing in their journals, taping polaroids to their pages, collaging together little mementos from their days. I’m envious because as much as I want to say this is me, it’s not. I don’t really do these things on a regular basis, and that’s something I’m ashamed of. Why? Because I’ve told myself that this is how I should be living. If I’m not doing these things, then I’m a failure.

This is not the way you must live.

I try to tell myself this to relieve some pressure. I hold myself to too high of a standard, and that makes me fail more easily. Lately I’ve been trying to let go of some pressures in my life because I’ve noticed that all they do is bog me down. Pinterest is something that’s been a positive in my life, but it also has had its negative effects. I’m not sure I can entirely quit it soon, but I think taking a step back from all its structure and influence can help me be content with what I’m doing in the current moment.