Survey Reveals ‘Pinterest Stress’ Affects Nearly Half Of Moms

Do you suffer from “Pinterest stress,” a condition involving the feelings of inadequacy women experience when browsing the perfectly color-coordinated gluten-free meals and explicitly detailed seasonal crafts pinned and repinned to the site?

If you’re a user, the idea of Pinterest stress probably doesn’t even need to be explained — any of the site’s mostly female users will likely instantly recognize the variably unsettling feelings of insufficiency that can sometimes result as we scan the popular social network’s battery of images passive-aggressively lecturing everyone about thighs that don’t touch, why various reasons not to work out are insufficient, how much more worthwhile it is to make your own yogurt, and so on and so forth.

“So totally doing this!” is the type of comment one sees ahead of Pinterest stress, and a TODAY moms survey of more than 7,000 mothers and Pinterest users revealed that indeed, seeing daily declarations from friends that they plan to cook, decorate, exercise and generally do more can make one feel less assured about one’s own level of ambition.

Of TODAY’s survey, the site explains that “42 percent [of moms surveyed about Pinterest] said that they sometimes suffer from Pinterest stress – the worry that they’re not crafty or creative enough … symptoms include staying up until 3 a.m. clicking through photos of exquisite hand-made birthday party favors even though you’ll end up buying yours at the dollar store, or sobbing quietly into a burnt mess of expensive ingredients that were supposed to be adorable bunny cookies for the school bake sale.”

28-year-old Jenna Anderson runs a site called Pinterest Fail, and she tells TODAY:

“[Pinterest stress] tricks you into thinking that everyone is baking their own bread. Pinterest is largely a site of unrealized dreams … We have a hard time enjoying our own experiences because we feel it’s not worthy of this invisible judge. It’s so easy to get depressed. You start to feel like your entire life has to be like a magazine all the time.”

Are you part of the 42 percent of moms suffering Pinterest stress, or does using Pinterest make you feel inspired?