So Pinterest. It's barely on our radars as a place for busy and/or creative moms to store recipes and mood board future home design projects but it turns out the teens are into it now too. I first got interested in covering Pinterest for this newsletter last month when it came up in one of my informal teen focus groups as a favorite for the first time. Then last week, I read a Wired article (“Pinterest is having a moment”) where I learned that
Gen Z make up 40 percent of Pinterest’s active monthly users and are now the platform’s fastest growing demographic.
33 percent of adults under 25 said they found Pinterest to be “cool,” the highest rating of any social media site (Forrester, 2023)
Feels like its a good time to talk about it.
Remind me about Pinterest, again?
Introduced in 2010, think of Pinterest as a digital bulletin board where people "pin" (as if with a virtual thumbtack) images and videos they find interesting. It's a real treasure trove of DIY projects, recipes, fashion inspo, travel hacks, and everything in between. Users can create boards on specific topics, collaborate with others, and even shop directly from pins.
Traditionally it had an older and mostly female audience although clearly that’s now changing.
And why are the teens on there now?
The Wired article describes it best “people can use Pinterest to find inspiration for hobbies, travel, decor, and style—without having to show themselves living out all those aspirational, and often expensive, trends, or images of their faces and bodies.” For all their social media activity, it seems a growing number of kids crave safer spaces online to express themselves and connect with friends without the performative pressures. (Check out my article on VSCO for another example of this trend).
Parental Controls v. Teen Safety Measures
Pinterest handles parental controls differently than other social media apps in that it doesn’t have a family center or a section called out as parental or content controls. Instead it has a way for parents to create a passcode that allows them to control certain settings in a child’s app. Here’s how you set that up:
Open the Pinterest app on your device and log into your teen's Pinterest account
Tap the profile picture at the bottom-right corner of the screen
Tap the nut icon in the top-right corner
Tap Account management
Tap Parental passcode
Enter a four-digit code and your email
Tap Set passcode
The settings you can control with passcode are:
Email
Password
Profile visibility
Ads personalization (The privacy and data settings available to you may depend on where your teen is located)
Messaging
@Mentions
Comments
Shopping Recommendations
In addition they have a few safety by default settings and features that kick in for any user under 16.
Your profile will be private. This means your profile won’t be discoverable.
The boards and Pins you create will only be visible to followers you approve.
No filters that distort your image.
No body shaming– Pinterest actually has an outright ban on weight loss ads.
Just note that with all social media, if your kid uses a false birthday, the app may not know your kid is actually under 16. Therefore when you go to make that password there will be no setting for parental password. Similarly those safety by default settings won’t automatically kick in behind the scenes. So please please please check and make sure everyone is telling the truth about their age.
What parents should know
While Pinterest offers a creative outlet and a space for teens to explore their interests, its not without risks, including:
Unrealistic body image: Pinterest is full of curated perfection, which can lead to body image issues for teens. The safety by default measures are great but no app has this down pat. You still need to talk to your kids about the importance of media literacy and the danger of repetitive imagery skewing how you see yourself. (This came up last week as well in my YouTube update )
Spending habits: Pinterest is a natural pathway to commerce. FOMO is a real thing and it can make the impulse to shop even greater. Make sure you are discussing responsible spending.
Cyberbullying: Unfortunately, no platform is immune to online negativity. Encourage open communication and remind teens to be kind. If they or someone they know is being bullied encourage them to come to you for help and/or report it. While I don’t think cyberbullying is particularly problematic on Pinterest, there is a way to communicate on the app which means theres always a risk.
My $0.02
I like hearing that kids are looking for less social media-y social media. I just wish they’d ‘read a book’ or ‘talk to each other in person’ when they need a break instead of finding another app to spend time with. But I realize I am starting to sound like an old crank.
Pinterest is certainly a less risky choice than many of the other social media platforms, but it is still social media.
If your kid isn’t yet 13, consider waiting to offer this or any social media. The apps don’t technically allow you on until you’re 13 so start by making the house rule that no one can lie about their age! I would NOT make an exception for Pinterest.
If your kid is already on, get on there too and make sure you understand it. Set up the parental password and check that their age is correct.
Talk to your kid about the dangers of social media in general and Pinterest in specific. Conversations about body image are important.
Bonus tip: Share content on Pinterest with your kid. Maybe even collaborate with them on a board. It's probably one of the easier apps to use with your teen to bond, share interests, and even learn something new from each other.
Paying subscribers can read for the results of my Teen Pinterest Survey including some insightful quotes!
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