One cannot go throughout all of lecture without happening to check their Facebook messages, flip through apps or happen to drift their eyes to the open beaming lap top screens scattered throughout the class. How can a student help not when they have to sit through a 75-minute spiel on the theory behind endometriosis or the almost indecipherable professor ranting about the importance of the Djiboutian Civil War and somehow correlating his argument to today’s international issues?
Depending on your attention span, it’s more likely than not, the instructor’s lost you and you’ve focused in on the websites that students around you are searching. Lately I’ve been seeing, and hearing, a lot about the latest craze takeover female and male’s attention span alike—Pinterest.
Here’s the lowdown: Pinterest is a pinboard-style social photo experience website. It is designed for users to browse, pin, and re-pin other users’ pins ranging from delectable food recipes, a how-to manual for quilting (picture included, naturally) and Conde Nast’s latest Jungle hide away. Most pins are clickable—meaning, clicking on the pin and then double clicking when the window of the pin pops up, allows you to find the origin of your specified pin. Although, again, not all pins have this ability since users are free to upload their own artistic photos at their own pleasure.
How did Pinterest catch on: Pinterest was originally developed in late 2009 by Ben Silberman, but not until March 2010 was the site actually launched. Nine months after the initial launch, the website boasted 10,000 users. In August 2011, Time magazine named Pinterest on of its “50 best websites of 2011” and in December, it entered the top 10 social networks category. In the summer of 2011, Apple introduced the Pinterest app in its mobile app store and in February 2012, introduced a newly updated version of the same app. According to Purewal of PCWorld.com, Pinterest really took off in mid-2011 and by December was matriculating over 11 million monthly users. Most of the website’s users are female with over 97 percent, but not solely.
One of my roommates discovered this unique pin sharing site over winter break and came back with the app and couldn’t stop pinning. My other roommates and I had no idea and no particular interest in her new found addiction. It wasn’t until a couple weeks later, when I was sitting in lecture, bored to tears that I needed something to quickly occupy myself—I looked around and saw laptops illuminating with the signature red Pinterest logo, so that I decided to give it a try. Bad idea,… because a mere 10 minutes later after I had made my log in information and I began pinning my first pins. I initially got so enthralled within the website—browsing categories and skimming creative pages that I not only pinned through the rest of my class, but I was sitting in on the beginning minutes of another class. I immediately realized my obliviousness and from that point on, I knew I had become a groupie on the Pinterest-crazed bandwagon.
I use Pinterest primarily for food recipes, since I live off-campus and don’t have a meal plan, as well as to feed my ever-expanding curiosity for fashion, creative DIY projects and fun ideas to expand my narrowing free time. I’ve realized there’s always time for Pinterest. The most prominent change in myself I have noticed since becoming hooked on Pinterest is the motivated expanse on my recent creativity drive. I have found myself prompted to try almost any recipe if it has been pinned multiple times. Or the friendship bracelet headphones that I came across, tried and I haven’t stopped getting compliments since. This craft is a prime example of the allotted creativity it embraces in its users. These are a few of my favorite pins, hope you enjoy.
Happy pinning!
Personal balcony pool Friendship bracelet head phones
Red velvet rose bud cake Serene backyard movie experience
DIY High-top sneakers Chocolate & sprinkle dipped Peeps