Pinterest: The Perfect Platform

Snapchat, TikTok, Instagram. All apps that have a chokehold on modern society and especially teenagers. I have a complicated relationship with social media, and I assume most people do too. Sometimes I hate the comparisons I make between my feed and someone else’s, but it’s also a great way to connect with other people and find a creative outlet. Sometimes I spend WAY too much time on my phone and think I wasted my day, but other times I need to just scroll and wind down. 

I’ve considered deleting Snapchat or Instagram but never actually done it because while there are some negative aspects about either of them, I don’t think either app hurts me in a detrimental way. I overall have a healthy relationship with social media apps where I don’t think about them or spend TOO much time on them, and I enjoy sending dumb pictures and memes to my friends too much to delete a social media app.

Of course, everyone has their own complicated relationship with social media or a certain app. There are several upsides and downsides to the internet since the emergence of social media. But is there a perfect platform? 

I and other Falcons would argue that there is a social media that’s pretty darn close to perfect. Our decided king of kings is Pinterest. 

Joaquin Hernandez (‘23) adamantly supports this hot take. “Pinterest is the perfect app — I recommend it to anyone who doesn’t have it.” 

If you aren’t a seasoned Pinterester like Joaquin, then I’m sure what comes to mind when you hear about the forgotten app is weird recipes from Buzzfeed’s Tasty that are way over the top or maybe room decor that is incredibly teal and full of chevron print or just anything at all that screams 2016.

At least for me, Pinterest had been put on the back burner as one of my favorite apps until recently. Before I was allowed to have Instagram, I loved using Pinterest. I was excited to find weird quizzes and facts or homemade face masks or even the occasional slime recipe. After middle school though, I kind of stopped using Pinterest and almost forgot about it until a few months ago. 

Luckily for me, Pinterest has not changed. The only thing different about using the app now is that my interests have matured. The app can be used by literally anyone and is quite simple to understand. 

There is no competition or comparisons on Pinterest like there are on other apps — it’s just an endless hole of aesthetic photos and videos. “I love Pinterest because it’s good and reliable,” Gianna Cavaletto (‘24) says. “It’s the same thing and it has been the same for years.”

Pinterest is for inspiration on anything in life. It is not like Instagram or Snapchat which both involve posting yourself and what you’re doing at a certain time. Some people post on Pinterest, but most users just consume the beautiful content. “It’s all the media, no social,” Gianna said happily.

Of course, if Pinterest users are only ever looking at aesthetic lifestyle photos, then can’t they still feel less than? Isn’t it the same as scrolling through influencers with highly curated feeds on your Instagram timeline? I don’t think that using Pinterest is remotely similar to other apps because people aren’t posting to “show off” their lives like they may on Instagram. They are simply posting to show cute things and feed others’ creativity.

“[Pinterest] is less judgmental [than other social media apps] because you’re not posting about your life — you’re just looking at what other people are doing and you use it as an inspiration platform,” says the walking Pinterest board herself, Maddie McDougall (‘23). 

Pinterest is not an app that perpetuates the idea that users must look a certain way — it is an app that supplies countless ideas and photos so that users can decide how to present themselves in a unique way.

Graciela Diaz (‘23) couldn’t be happier with the serenity that Pinterest provides. “Sometimes Instagram and Snapchat can get stressful, but Pinterest is just for me. I don’t have to keep up an image for other people — it’s just what I want,” she recalls. There is peace in scrolling on Pinterest and looking at pretty pictures of literally anything that makes you happy and not having to worry about the upkeep of a certain image or like count. 

Gianna praises the app because “you get exposed to different content that is really tailored to the things that you like or the aesthetic you are trying to curate.” 

Maddie applauds the app because it has influenced her style and life for the better. She proudly says, “I’d definitely say that my room, where I spend most of my time, is Pinterest inspired. I’d say Pinterest is a good reflection of who I am.”

Pinterest also doesn’t have to be just for curating a style or lifestyle — it can be used for simple enjoyment. I have several boards full of actors from my favorite TV shows or one dedicated to Taylor Swift. I have boards with embroidery, funny actors, and celebrities in Marvel movies. Pinterest is whatever I make it.

Graciela goes and finds photos after watching TV shows. Joaquin has a board full of tattoos he enjoys, and even my mom has a board titled “People to Admire” that is just one pin of Mr. Rogers.

Pinterest is for anyone because it can be whatever anyone wants. I recommend that everyone downloads the app and starts building up their boards and that they express themselves and discover what they like. Pinterest is a perfect creation that can adapt to anyone’s interest and ideas.