Being a teenager, especially a teenage girl, has its own place in each woman's heart. Having to cover yourself with fluffy blankets while reading One Direction fanfictions in the middle of the night is one thing, but there is more stuff happening during a girl’s teenage years. One of the most memorable things is having to scroll Pinterest, We Heart It, and Tumblr all day (and yes, during class, too). Those apps surely have their own place in every woman's heart. Then, what is the deal with these applications? Why do they have their own place in one’s heart? Let’s unpack the case.
Pinterest, We Heart It, and Tumblr are mobile applications where the users can look for pictures, save them, and/or make a board out of the pictures. All three applications are considered as social media platforms because the users can also interact with other people from around the world. Tumblr and We Heart It were launched in 2007, while Pinterest’s launch date was in 2010. Despite the 3 years gap between the applications, they had their prime together in the 2010s.
Women of Gen Z, who spent their teenage years in the 2010s, know about the existence and the prime of these applications. The years they have spent were mostly filled by Pinterest boards, We Heart It collages, and quirky Tumblr blogs. Yet the world keeps on growing older, so do teenage girls. The main question is, why do these platforms have, or had, their own place in a girl’s heart?
“Take a picture, it will last longer.”
Taking a picture is one of the things to keep a memory alive and to relive it again years after the memory happened. Facebook’s “Memories” feature and Instagram’s “Archive” feature show that pictures are important to remind people about the forgotten memories. Sometimes, people only want to see soothing and comforting pictures rather than interacting through texts with people online, like on Twitter. Hence, the popularity of picture-posting platforms.
In the 2020s, Pinterest is becoming more popular because of the diverse range of pictures that are served in the application. Tumblr is still thriving as well inside many fandoms; TV shows fandom, movies fandom, music fandom, and even books fandom. Behind the popularity in the 2020s, there are still some quirky photos and boards, from a teenager in the 2010s, buried deep down in the applications. Perhaps the grown people we meet in the 2020s still have their quirky teenage selves from the 2010s buried inside.