I’m embarrassed to admit how much of my daily screen time is spent scrolling Pinterest. I love Instagram, and TikTok is one of my vices, but lately Pinterest has been my go to social media. There’s something so calming about it, the knowledge that you have a perfectly curated feed that you can just keep taking and adding to your boards, creating a better and improved carousel of pictures for your home screen.
The beauty of Pinterest, to me, is simplicity. Captions don’t matter. Comments don’t matter. Usually, you don’t even know who posted a Pin. The photo is everything, and the photos that pop up on my page are perfect. I have a board dedicated to dorm rooms, rooms that are curated and designed, rooms so model and ideal that they don’t even seem real. The angle is precise, the quality flawless, and I’ve wondered so many times how all these Pinterest users seem to have a master’s degree in photography. I have another board dedicated to nails. Long and short, gel and acrylic, every single color perfect. Have you ever tried to take a picture of your nails? It’s hard. It’s almost impossible to perfectly capture your digits in the frame while simultaneously taking a good photo. Yet, the Pinterest gods do it with ease every time.
I think that’s part of why I love to have my daily little escape on Pinterest. It’s a perfect microcosm of the real world, where users see exactly what they want. When I’m looking through all my saved pins and boards, I find inspiration for my own life, the universe that exists outside of my computer screen. As I’ve become more and more invested in my Pinterest, I’ve noticed how much I want my own life to be like that. I want it to be perfectly captured, something I can look at with happiness and peace.
Yet, I don’t think I’ll get that. Despite my desire for this aesthetic and appealing story of my life, I’ve failed. Because in spite of all my efforts, I just can’t take that perfect Pinterest photo. And I’ve tried! I’ve studied the photos I see, noticed their differences. They’re typically good quality, engaging and dynamic. The photos are always cropped at just the right angle, which shows not too much of the background or the subject, but just the right balance. How do people find these perfect places to take photos? Every time my friends and I take pictures, we end up looking sad and awkward.
I know this sounds like quite a sad dilemma to have. Why is this girl so obsessed with Pinterest, you might ask. But I think there’s joy in designing your life the way you want it. By surrounding yourself with little pieces of beauty, such as a perfectly made up bed with a mountain of pillows, gold jewelry on your wrist that makes you feel put together and pretty, or simply a mug collection that you’re proud of every time you make your morning coffee. That is what these perfect Pinterest photos represent to me, that curated part of a person’s life that they can take pride in.
Despite my seeming inability to recreate my favorite pictures, I’ve still taken inspiration from my Pinterest. I’ve tried to implement a color scheme in my backpack and school supplies, which makes me more excited to get ready for class. I’ve begun making my bed in the morning, knowing that when I come back after a long day I’ll be able to have a nice, relaxing place waiting for me. I’ve started to be more conscious of the clothes I wear, because when I look in the mirror and can feel happy with my choices, it changes the whole outcome of my day.
I do think that there is a balance to using Pinterest, such as with every other form of social media. Too much time scrolling definitely leads to dismay, and comparison of real life to the facade of social media might not have a positive outcome. I try to remain conscious of this as I peruse my feed, remembering that, while I can take innovation from what I see, I must remember to take value in my own life and the beauty in its imperfections.
I say: take Pinterest for what it is. Don’t spend too much time on it, but enjoy the small escape from the real world. Take that beauty into your real world, and remember to look for those small little moments that add to your joy.