Here’s how I see it: I think Pinterest is screwing with our psyches even if we don’t spend oodles of time in its labyrinth. It doesn’t matter if you seek it out; now it’s showing up in your reader every.single.day. It’s the villain of the blogosphere.
{Ok, so that’s an exaggeration. I appreciate that there is a platform for the sharing of inspiration; there are a great number of recipes and children’s activity ideas I have found via Pinterest that I have actually used. And hey, I’m not one to complain if a site sends traffic my way. But I digress. Rage! Angst! Grab you pitchforks!}
As long as I have been around it (5 years), the blogging community has always had strong undertones of Who Can Be The Best Mom/Crafter/House Decorator/
Then Pinterest came on the scene and was all “I can give you loads of traffic! All you have to do is post a picture with words on it! And make it something pretty! And crafty!” then WHAM we as bloggers and writers feel this pressure to be DIYers or portrait photographers or cooks or to wrap the handles of our freaking paper bags with yarn. and blog about that. Paper bags wrapped in yarn, people. We pretend to be whatever we feel we need to be in order to blow up on Pinterest. We do this instead of just being writers and bleeding words.
Bleeding words doesn’t get you pinned, but making a copycat pumpkin spice latte recipe does. Hypothetically.
This isn’t to say that some (all) of the beautiful women writers and bloggers aren’t well-rounded or multi-talented. I know most of us were posting tutorials here and there when Pinterest was just a glimmer in some web developer’s eye. But this new opportunity to reach a broader audience can lend itself to self-imposed pressure. We’ve moved beyond the “ugh scrolling through Pinterest makes me feel inadequate” whining, and can now say that it has effected the entire social community on the internet for the worse.
We push ourselves to create things that will impress (and be pinned) instead of things that will connect on a deeper level.
As a result, more ‘Here’s how I make enough Paleo meals for my family for a month in only 6 hours!‘ posts hit us everyday and it looks more and more like everyone else has All The Things together when really it’s all bull crap. I’m calling it. It’s bull crap. We’re all actually striving and messy and imperfect, we just don’t have as much time to talk about it anymore because we are busy editing graphics for our ruffled shower curtain tutorial.
How’s about a breath of fresh air?
Want to see my striving and my messy and my imperfect?
Go ahead. Pin this under Great Playroom Decor:
And this under Hands-on Activities for Kiddos:
O andplusalso: remember my desk from here? Yea, about that…
I’ve been meaning to come back here and applaud you for this AMAZING post. Seriously, Allison, you hit the nail on the head for me.
I hope you don’t mind if I piggy-back on your post and share my own thoughts on this topic on my blog. It’s what I’ve been thinking for a long time. I guess I just needed you to say it!
Bravo!!!
I love this post. LOVE it. I really do adore Pinterest. As a photographer/designer, it’s been great for my business. But. I agree with everything you said about the pressure it’s putting on us as writers. You don’t see quality posts being pinned. You don’t see the writing that stands out on Pinterest. Glad to see I’m not the only one who thinks this.
The best response I got on my blog recap after Tommy’s birthday party was from someone who was happy that it was just a normal party, with a piñata and some sidewalk chalk and happy kids. Truly, I don’t have time for Pinterest perfection…and we all know, that’s not for the kids.
So glad someone said this!
WOOT – I’d shout hell ya if you were listening. Thank you. I’m so over blogging — and the picture statement. “we just don’t have as much time to talk about it anymore because we are busy editing graphics for our ruffled shower curtain tutorial.”
SERIOUSLY – I just got my 1st real nice camera and have been STRESSED editing photos because my blog wasn’t “picture pretty”.
Can I just love my kids now???
Cracking up. ESP the real life photos
Love it! I love pinterest, I love blogging, and I love reading blogs. But, if I am trying to find some good reads, I get tired of seeing all the DIY posts that link back to pinterest. Everyone, it seems, is a DIY-er now. Thanks for being real, I love the pics!
I hate pinterest. All those people are posting what they want to buy or try or whatever and not showing how well they actually accomplished anything. I have finally started doing searches that remove all ehow, about or pinterest.
I read this post a long time ago as was just browsing through your archives and stumbled on it again. I love this post and your honesty in general. It’s pretty freaking awesome to call out the Pinterest life vs what real life often looks like:)