Monday, January 13, 2014

If Life were Like Pinterest...

Have you heard of Pinterest? It's awesome. I love it. In fact, I probably spend no less than ten minutes and sometimes close to an hour on Pinterest daily. It's like a social media site without all the social part so there isn't too much interaction with real people -- isn't that great? I would say it is a site mostly used by women, but men use it too. Basically, it has everything in the world on it: clothes, diy projects, weddings plans, memes, travel tips, celebrities, movie, music, history, recipes, photography, quotes, fitness/health tips, whatever! There is no way that what you're interested in is not on Pinterest. And if it's not? Just 'pin' it from another site onto Pinterest and voila! Each pin has a photo and (sometimes) a link to learn more about that pin. And you, the user, can pick and choose what you re-pin and you get to organize it however you want. Then, it's always there for your future use. It's like bookmarks but better because, well, there's pictures. And, you don't have to find all the sites for yourself. Just follow people with similar interests and you'll help each other discover new things.

Sounds great, right? 

It is. 

So what's my problem with Pinterest? Well, I have a few...

 1. It's a time sucker. Having it on my phone makes it particularly enticing during five or ten minute breaks here and there. But even when I'm home and I could be doing anything I want, sometimes I sit with my phone and just pin. Before I know it, half an hour has passed. In addition, my Pinterest addiction sometimes keeps me up at night, cutting into precious sleeping time.

2. It's not productive. Even though I pin tons of diy projects, recipes, and other clever ideas, I have executed perhaps a dozen of them. I have pinned over 6,000 things. So that's a one to 500 ratio of projects done in real life to pins pinned.

3. It causes discontentment. Pinterest makes me aware of what I do not have. Cute clothes, gourmet cooking skills, a perfect body, that dream wedding, the huge mansion, great make-up skills, and not to mention tons of nail polish and nail art abilities... I don't have those things. Some of them I may never get. And by looking at and re-pinning photos of those things all day makes me well aware of that fact.  

As this photo points out:

Photo found here

4. Lastly, Pinterest feeds my sarcasm. My "Memes and such" board accounts for 2,600 of my 6,000+ pins. That's close to half of my pins going toward photos of grumpy cat, screenshots of tumblr posts, ecards, and other equally ridiculous and sarcastic photos. These memes and other photos feed my sarcasm and, I believe, contribute greatly to my attitude. Some of these photos may have me on the floor laughing, while many mostly encourage me to be sarcastic or snide.

Like many websites, Pinterest can be used for good or evil. For me, the good in Pinterest is found in the great quotes and Bible verses I re-pin. But those account for less than 400 of my over 6,000 pins. Again, not a great ratio. What's wrong with spending 10-60 minutes a day on Pinterest? Wishing for things I may never get? Avoiding things I should be doing? Stirring up my sarcastic attitude? 

If I honestly have to answer those questions, I have a pretty big problem on my hands. 

So, here's my pledge. For the next six weeks, no Pinterest. This may sound silly to you non-Pin Heads, but for me, it's a big deal. I won't access Pinterest for six weeks. I will delete the Pinterest app on my phone and replace it's spot with my Bible app. (I will probably press that app many times in the coming weeks expecting Pinterest to pop up and getting Genesis instead.) Any other Pinterest-addicted friends care to join me? Comment below! 

Are you on Pinterest? Are you a Pin Head? 
Or do you keep your time on Pinterest limited? 




2 comments:

  1. I only browse Pinterest when I receive an email from them and think there is something I would like to look at, which is maybe one time (for about 5 minutes) a month - the most. Facebook is a little different - I'll scan people's posts for about 10 - 30 minutes once a week. The worst for me is the Hallmark channel :) I'll watch every movie at least once, sometimes twice and spend who knows how many hours every weekend enjoying the fantasy life of dating and marriage. Which ever media type it is that has you caught up in "La La land," truly it's not worth it. But we lie to ourselves believing it's not that bad. So, I commend you not spending time on things that consume you and does not lift you up spiritually. I'll join you and not watch Hallmark movies for 6 weeks (of course replace those hours with reading His Word) and let's see what we come away with!

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  2. I just deactivated my account. It's too much of a distraction and I want to avoid temptation.

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