STUDY Pinterest stress affects nearly half of moms

Last weekend, I picked up a box of plain, glass vases at a sale. I wanted to dress them up a little bit, so I did the natural thing: Turned to Pinterest for some DIY ideas. After a quick scroll through the pins, I decided a simple ombre paint job would be within my crafting abilities.

Turns out I was wrong. Although the finished vase was good enough for me, it was a far cry from the beautiful creation that was deemed “SO EASY” by the pinner. And, to be honest, the whole experience left me a bit glum.

This is what a new Today Mom survey deems “Pinterest stress,” or the feeling that you’re not as crafty or creative as other moms. According to the survey of more than 7,000 American moms, 42 percent of respondents said they experienced Pinterest-driven depression.

“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,” said Jenna Andersen, a mother of two and creator of Pinterest Fail.

The phenomenon isn’t limited to Pinterest. As one Baby Center author wrote two years ago, many of us can relate to the feeling of discontent or envy spurred on by friends’ idyllic Facebook profiles.

Pinterest just adds another layer to the stress, particularly as it promotes bragging. In order to see any craft that’s less than perfect, you have to venture back into the World Wide Web to site such as Andersen’s Pinterest Fail or the equally popular Pinstrosity.

To overcome Pinterest stress, you don’t need to go on a total pin boycott. Just try to keep everything in perspective as Dena Fleno, a mother of two, wrote on Connecticut Working Moms.

“As I poured over oodles of pins one night, feeling slightly inadequate, I started to realize that, while I may think of myself as Martha Stewart on occasion, my kids don’t want or need her. They just want me to be their mom,” Fleno said.

By the way, as one daddy-blogger pointed out, Pinterest stress isn’t limited to moms!

“But it might be time somebody did a survey of the levels of Pinterest-induced stress on dads,” Eric Mack suggested on CNET.