Lydia Dishman claims Pinterest is addictive, at
http://digitallife.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/28/10532317-this-is-what-makes-pinterest-so-addictive
"If you are still among the uninitiated, the social platform for collecting, sharing, and commenting on of photos of personal passions is uniquely engaging, absorbing and addictive."
So, is Pinterest addictive?
According to Dr. Christopher Long, teaching consumer psychology:
Pinterest boards are:
1. "Personal happiness collages" - represent what I like, desire, "express who I am"
2. "A refuge from relationship status"
3. A sharing of the real self - what I would be doing and consuming if only...
This article also comments on the graphic design of Pinterest from Ken Carbone.
That is quite is an interesting. I guess that is quite similar to how people are addicted to social networking site like Facebook (and a lesser extent to MySpace). I think as teachers we could encourage an addiction to Pinterest if we can do so in a scholarly fashion.I especially like #1! I think that is the best description of Pinterest that I have seen thus far.
ReplyDeleteI have quite a few friends who have accounts with Pintrest and say it is just as addictive, if not more, to things such as Facebook and Twitter. Even if we encourage students to use, and possibly get addicted to, Pintrest, there is no saying what else the students will use it for. We would be setting up our students with a perfect form of procrastination, while they can say, "my class is on Pintrest, so I'm actually doing 'homework'."
ReplyDeleteI think there is some truth in this. According to the lastest numbers, 11 million unique users joined Pinterest in January.
ReplyDeleteI can see how Pinterest is addictive just like how Youtube and Facebook are. It is full of information that endless time can be spent on it.
ReplyDeleteIf Pinterest is addictive to us, it will be more addictive to students since they don't have as good self-control as we do.
ReplyDeleteThis is a really good point. Even doing homework on a computer leads to distractions for me, let along doing work on a site with built in distractions. Students could also have a poor idea of the amount of time they spent doing academic vs. non-academic activities on pintrest.
ReplyDelete