I have a million things to do, including reanalyze my thesis, apply for 2 upcoming job deadlines, learn a new statistical method for an article authorship, write a bid proposal for a lit review contract job, plan my lesson plan for Monday's class and more.
But instead, I'm home taking a sick day.
Which leads me to the time suck that in Pinterest. I've been quite cynical the last few days, and my cynicism extends to that website. The most common trends of things to post are hilarious contradictions of each other.
People post (or pin?) lots of "flat abs" and fitness regiments and then TONS of pictures of cupcakes, brownies and decadent cakes. Hrmm, let me know how that works out for ya!
They also pin/post cute pictures of babies and kids, dogs, cats, and adorable furry critters, but then also post immaculate, beautiful homes that are complete ideals and would never stay looking that way if they had kids or pets.
I find pictures of painted nails to be gross - possibly because I find the idea of painted nails to be absolutely gut-wrenching disgusting. But there are tons of perfectly manicured hands painted in all different styles, right next to "Do it yourself" craft projects and wood working activities and lots of things that would most definitely "chip a nail."
Finally, the main thing on Pinterest is consumer products. Pretty dresses, pretty rings, fast cars, anything you can spend lots of money on to oogle. But right beside all these materialistic fantasies are "thrifty ideas" and "how to save money." How about stop fantasizing over really expensive material products and then you'll likely have more money?
Just sayin.
Perhaps it's meant just to be a way to express our ideological fantasies, or perhaps it reflects the societal pressure on people to simply "be everything" all at once (gourmet chef, interior designer, super mom, super athlete, crafty critter, fashionista).
Perhaps it's simply our replacement for Oprah, who was known for being exceedingly hypocritical in her show. One week: How to lose weight! Next week: Best chocolate recipes! etc. There's even a book about trying to live by Oprah's advice and how ridiculous it is when taken all together because it contradicts itself worse than a biblical story.
Anyway, I'm now part of that ridiculously hypocritical community, mainly because I can't resist "re-pinning pictures like these:
If you'd like to follow me and see the pictures of cute animals, chocolate indulgences and cozy study spaces, then you can just click here to see my profile on Pinterest.
