My hatred of Pinterest has reached an all-time high because *everyone* in my Facebook feed is raving about xyz they found on Pinterest, how much time they're spending on Pinterest, and "OMG Guys! Have you seen Pinterest?!" Scratch that - it only seems to be women who are using Pinterest.
I. Can't. Take. It.
I was "lucky" to get an invite to a year ago. I had no idea what it was but some of my crafty friends were trying it out, and raving about it. I logged in, pinned a couple of things and promptly forgot about it. It just wasn't fun or useful to me.
Fast-forward several months, and it's starting to become "a thing". There are little "pin it" buttons on websites. Anytime you ask someone about a cute craft or yum food they made, they say "I found it on Pinterest."
Why I hate it:
1. It's visually overwhelming
I'm not a visual person AT ALL. So a grid of pretty pictures is nice enough but does nothing for me. I capture projects I want to tackle in OneNote and make copious notes in addition to grabbing a photo and a link. In fact, when I see a page full of those pinboards, it's overwhelming to my brain to see that many photos together.
2. It encourages a culture of "pinning just for the sake of it"
People seem to want to create pinboards for other people to appreciate and "follow", or whatever the appropriate term is. Who knows if it's really a list of things that speak to their soul - it just seems like one of those pointless games on Facebook, like managing your virtual farm. I feel the same way about the Etsy Treasury - people make them with a certain "look" to try to get selected for Etsy's front page.
3. It discourages action
It encourages its users to waste more time pinning and wishing. I feel this way about TV and Facebook, too. Junk TV is fun to watch and balm for the brain, but at some point you have to switch it off and get the heck off your couch. At least with Facebook I am getting *some* marginal use, because I'm strengthening friendships. But you know what's better? Taking a walk, cooking, or hanging out *in person* with someone you like. LauraC blogged about this a few months ago.
4. It discourages creativity and encourages copying
This is not new - there have always been people online trolling Etsy for craft ideas. But the popularity of Pinterest has taken this to a new level. It encourages folks to just re-use others' ideas, and by giving us such an easy way to share and store them, it squelches creativity. Why should I figure out a cool idea for Valentines in my daughter's class when I can just troll Pinterest and choose from the many options there? On a more insidious level, why not copy some idea I saw on Pinterest and sell it at a craft fair or on Etsy myself and make some easy cash? I hate that the popularity of Pinterest makes this so much easier and more widespread.
5. It makes me feel stressed out and inadequate
Yes, I realize this is my own personal problem, but I suspect it affects a lot of others as well. As a working mom, I can imagine buying those preprinted Valentines-in-a-box, but after trolling Pinterest, how dare I? What kind of mother would deny her child the opportunity to make handcrafted, individual treat jars with homemade baked goods for all of her classmates?
And wow, look at all those cool home decor ideas. Wouldn't it be awesome if I could do all those? Oh look, here's another 20 things to add to my To-Do list. Just what I needed. Honestly, just *looking* at the cool projects on Pinterest makes my blood pressure rise.
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| Borrowed from I Love Charts on Tumblr |
I'm not saying Pinterest shouldn't exist, or that it doesn't serve a real, useful purpose to many people. It does. It's well-designed, a smart idea, and gorgeous. But these reasons are why *I* don't use it. Why I haven't added a "find/follow/pin/whatever me on Pinterest" button to my blog. Why I want to scream when another person on Facebook displays a project copied from Pinterest.
I'm all for DIY, being more crafty and doing fun stuff with kids. But I wish people would have done these things before Pinterest, or in spite of Pinterest. Not because of it.
So.... two classrooms of kindergarteners and only one parent did a Pinterest project. It was the one where you melt all the crayons into hearts. Problem? Peeling 100s of crayons!!
ReplyDeleteWow, I'm surprised that there was only one project! My facebook feed was full of Pinterest V-Day projects.
ReplyDeleteI wonder how many boxes of brand new crayons were sacrificed for that project. Sniffle :)
Just like anything else on the internet, everyone uses it for different things. I'm a visual person and I love the reminder - you know, things I want to try. I pin tutorials - things that are meant to share. Things that people pin to help bring traffic to their site... and I always try to track down the original source of the pin. I love it - but I can see where some people don't have a place for it. And I do my best not to share with people that don't care (yes, I know, I'm guilty of sharing occasionally... I mean really, you don't think the string art mural is awesome?)
ReplyDelete@Kayce - I haven't seen the string art mural and I don't mind seeing cool stuff that people share in general. I think it's the copying part that bugs me more. The "I saw this on Pinterest and I made it too". I'd rather see a blog post about why it did or didn't work, or what you changed about it. I guess I want more details, not just a hit and run and "OMG Pinterest is awesome".
ReplyDeleteBut that's also why I hide all the game posts on FB, too ;)
I hear you. I, however, am completely visual.
ReplyDeleteI don't have time for reading blogs. This gives me many in one spot. Love that. I do some of the projects.
What I have to remember is to review what I've pinned and not just look for new things to pin.
What I don't do- or try not to is advertise my pins on FB (twitter, maybe) Not a fan of my FB buds who fill my feed with their Pinterest finds.
@Laura - yes, it is a definite time saver if you're looking for stuff. But the act of pinning something isn't an accomplishment, so I too am tired of seeing tons of "look what I pinned" posts. If it's something really awesome, yes, please share.
ReplyDeleteBut dude, stop telling me every time you pinned xyz.
It took me a while to figure out that every time I pinned something, it would post it to my FB page. I have since removed that because I really don't want everyone to know EVERYTHING I do :) Yep, I hide all those came posts also.
ReplyDeleteI look at it maybe once every two weeks. I like the ideas, and I like the visual layout because I can scan through it and see if anything interests me. I saw a great DIY bubble solution and tons of printable stuff that Elliott can use for ABA or other general speech uses which I would not have thought to find on my own. I have the facebook friends that talk about how they are OMG SO ADDICTED!!. I don't really get that.
ReplyDeleteI also like a personalized blurb when people post a recipe, craft, experiment, etc. on any social media site. On pinterest, I never know if the caption has been edited by the current person pinning it or if it was the original poster. I want to know if Anandi thought the recipe was awesome. I don't care what the person 150 share ago thought.
So I've only glanced at it and was, like you, too overwhelmed by the home page. Too much stuff that appeared to be very unorganized. I am not a person to sift through things. I like to find what I'm looking for or need immediately. I don't think its for me. And many of your reasons apply to me as well.
ReplyDeleteI really like Pinterest. Both for my own use, and as a way to share my artwork.
ReplyDeleteHowever, it does annoy me when I see people using it for copying, (I mean inspiration) or strictly for self promotion.
You could always renew your vows, and plan that all over again. . . .hee,hee
Amen to all of your #3- it discourages action. So does FB. clap clap clap!
ReplyDeleteI Couldn't have said it better! People look at me strange when I say I don't like it... But this is great! i will refere them to this site!
ReplyDeleteI arrived here by googling "I hate pinterest" just because to see if I was the ONLY person who isn't obsessed with that site. Thanks for writing this. I snort laughed at the Valentine's comments. I homeschool & we did a Valentine's Day swap for homeschooled kids. We sent out commercial Valentine's and received only handmade creative ones in return. I'm going to embrace the shame.
ReplyDeleteWell said! I echo many of your sentiments. You are SO not alone.
ReplyDelete@Nan - I love the idea of embracing the shame. Welcome :)
ReplyDelete@StephCo - I figured I wasn't alone :)
I totally agree. The coupon mom bloggers ruined couponing for me and now Pinterest is ruining crafting. Some of us had original ideas TYVM! Glad I'm not the only one who feels this way.
ReplyDeleteTHANK YOU!!!! I'm so glad there are others out there. By the way, I also got here by googling "I hate Pinterest." XD
ReplyDeleteAnandi - I remembered you wrote a blog on pinterest and I thought you might find this interesting:
ReplyDeletehttp://paidcontent.org/article/419-photographers-drag-amazon-into-pinterest-copyfight/
I like it for one thing, and that's finding new food ideas. I am a man, and it is clearly a woman site. I really can't stand how almost all pins include the word yum, or yummy. I'm so done with that! Is that the only food adjective you have? The word yum appears more than 100 times on the food and drink page!!!
ReplyDeletePINSTER or PINTEREST or whatever the hell you want to call it, is cluttering up the internet. I used to be able to find something I was interested in buying by googling a description and finding the image in Google images. Now, all I get from Google images is a clutter of pinster images that are basically all the same pic from one store on thousands of losers pinterest sites.
ReplyDeleteThe march of flashy features over actual content continues. Just when you think things can't get more vapid than Facebook, along comes Pinster. Lovely.
And I'm being pursued for copyright infringement to the tune of $24,000!
ReplyDeleteI'm off Pinterest forever.
I agree with this post. It's getting a little annoying to see these things that people "pin" and then I really think wow these are stay at home moms?? Who is watching their children while they are organizing/labeling/chalkboard painting/blogging/and crafting all these rediculous projects to post on the internet? Doesn't that defeat the purpose of "staying home" so you can actually hang out with kids, not sit on the internet for hours all day long. Sad..
ReplyDeleteI totally agree, pinterest has become the haven of rediculousness. How many ways can we chalkboard paint/label/organize/take stupid pictures of our kids/and make up stupid quotes in fancy fonts. I have an account but it annoys me more and more every time I go on it. I used to like the crafts and ideas but if I see one more cute baby wrapped in christmas lights i'm gonna puke. Who is watching these SAHM kids while they sit on the internet all day posting how they organize and label their closets. It's gotten out of hand.
ReplyDeleteAmen.
ReplyDeleteI hatee pininterest because you can no longer get regular results when you search for something. I typed in craft room and all the results were pininterest. And how do you get to the original story from pininterest, I have yet to find a link back.
ReplyDeleteAnd there are two many pictures of what ever you are looking for..how do you know which one to pick..give me more than 3 to pick from and my brain shuts down.
And don't get me started on fb..in fact, I might sue them for making me stupid
;-)