It's very fashionable to blame Facebook for its misfortunes and Pinterest is starting to do it too. Do we suffer from collective paranoia?
I read this week that Pinterest makes mothers unhappy. They feel too much pressure, they feel like they're not doing enough, they're not being manual enough, and they're taking care of their homes badly, and that's Pinterest's fault. For some people, it's Facebook's fault too, because according to them, Facebook is a conspiracy of ill-intentioned people who boast to make us feel bad about our tasteless lives. It's sad to see things like this, I think. How do we get here?
Are we getting paranoid?
One of the things that fascinates me the most when we hear that Pinterest is there to ruin our self-esteem and break up families, is all the paranoia that Internet users feel. They have the impression that they are being judged and that their computer is an open window on their intimacy. They think their laziness and flaws might be exposed any minute.
Yet nobody asks you to have a house that could be photographed for magazines. No onewill take a photo of your utensil drawer to ridicule the state of your home. This feeling may come from watching and judging others. Our voyeurism is catching up with us.
Except we're not stars. No one will know that you screwed up a three-cheese soufflé if you don't show it to them. No one will blame you for being in fluffy brown pajamas at 5 p.m. on Friday if you don't say so. Nobody will judge you for being in your negligee at midnight, standing on the living room table singing out of tune all the songs from the Rocky Horror picture show if you don't spread it on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or Pinterest. And even if you showed it, what could it matter? Are you so ashamed of being yourself?
Compare
We show our best side on social networks. It's like that, we put on our 36. It's what people used to do when they went to church, and it's what they do now when they went to see friends. It's not to annoy anyone, it's to leave a good impression. It's okay to be a little proud, what isn't is to blame others for being proud.
Pinterest sports its pasta in the shape of a bird's nest and its small snow of parmesan cheese. Everything is beautiful on Pinterest, especially if you follow the right people. You can find ideas for reusing anything from broken jewelry to fall leaves. Well believe it or not, that too makes peopleunfortunate. It even seems that a study of 300 students proves that these successful people are the cause of all our misfortunes.
However, Pinterest is just the idea you would never have had for decorating the living room during the son's party. This is the cake that a professional offers you to learn how to make for free, in the comfort of your own home.
Facebook, on the other hand, is only a meeting place to laugh with friends about the disaster that happened to the cake during said party. This is where you can show the group photo to your aunt who was way too far away to attend.
That's it.
This is not a place to look down on everyone or a place to compare yourself with others and wonder if you've completely failed your life. If we started doing that, we would always be disappointed not to be with a billionaire or a globetrotter, and we would blame the Louvre and its marvels for blaming us for our lack of culture.
If this is becoming a source of rage and dismay, maybe it's time to shut down the computer, take a step back, and implement all that inspiration found on Pinterest with real scissors and real cardboard, without looking for attention, just for fun.
Hell is ourselves
“Using Facebook can become a he althy and fun activity if users take advantage of the site to stay connected with family andold friends and to share interesting and important aspects of their lives. However, if Facebook is used to see how an acquaintance is doing financially or if an old friend is happy in their relationship – things that trigger envy in users – the site can lead to feelings of depression” according to Margaret Duffy, researcher at the University of Missouri.
So our attitude has to change. We must stop blaming others for being happy, make the necessary changes to be happy too and use social media as tools. Remember that Facebook and Pinterest are just websites. They are not responsible for the friends you choose there.
