Loving and Hating on Pinterest

I have a love / hate relationship with Pinterest. I won’t say too many bad things lest my app fails me and I have nothing else to do during 2 am feedings. {I’ve had previous experience with the app not working. Not cool.}

Pinterest has always been a phase for me. Sometimes I’m on. Sometimes I’m off. I have to disconnect myself when it becomes to overwhelming. I get this feeling that I can’t keep up with others. I can’t make enough recipes or do enough DIY projects to keep my status as a “trendy Pinterest user.” After all, who’s going to know if I am or am not creating these pins? Well, I do. And it can ruin my self-esteem quickly if I think everyone else is creating away while I sit on the couch pinning things that I’ll never accomplish.

Am I the only one who thinks this inanimate object can be a little competitive and catty at times. Look what that person is doing to their house now. Look how they are raising their kid. What are they making now? How many times has someone written a blog or posted a status about something that came from Pinterest? You never know someone’s intentions, but it’s hard to believe that all of them are simply siting the source. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a big fan of giving credit to the source, but it’s what makes Pinterest feel a little competitive and higher-than-thou. It’s become a source for woman to promote how great she is at being a homemaker, wife, mother, or any other label related to her pins. And how many times have you been in real world situations where people have been talking about something they did that they saw on Pinterest? Same thing? Maybe.

Pros:

• Meal planning is so much easier. 
• I’ve made a lot of really good meals.
• Bryan bought me a Christmas present based on something I’d pinned!
• Good motivation to organize my house.
• Tips to help me use manual mode on my camera. I’ve taken some great pictures in manual that I attribute to these pins.
• Toddler activities!
• A time killer when I’m up during the middle of the night feeding a baby.

Cons:

• Clothes I’ll never buy, let alone wear, causing me to feel like I need new clothes.
• A home I’ll never have, making me wish mine was more.
• Cleaning that I’ll never follow.
• Birthday parties that I’ll never plan.
• Hair and make-up that I’ll never have, making me feel less beautiful than the tens of pins I see every day.
• Photography that makes me wish I had the clothes, the hair, and the make-up.
• Rooms that make me wish I had the endless money to create duplicates.

There are a lot of good and bad things about Pinterest. While I’m a big fan right now, I’m trying to remember to use it as an inspiration board not a feel-less-about-myself-board. I try to be realistic about my pins and only pin ideas or things that we can do. I can’t help myself, I find that I don’t pin something if I’ve seen a lot of people already pin it. And I find it funny to see my friends pin the same things when they don’t know each other. How small is the Internet? I think it’s even smaller with Pinterest.

Do you create things you pin? Or do you use it for a wish list?