While the online world may be full of toxic imagery and unrealistic expectations — and social media platforms are being scrutinized for their role in all of it — Pinterest wants to shine a light on the positive ways platforms can highlight emotional well-being.
"Pinterest's entire mission is about bringing people inspiration to live a life they love," said Pinterest head of philanthropy and social impact Ariel Simon. "And, one of the first things that kind of we realized is that to live a life you love, you have to have a self you love."
To date, the company has spent more than $6 million on mental health initiatives. Products like compassionate search, which suggests helpful activities and resources when people are looking for troubling keywords like anxiety, are built into the platform.
Recently, it held "Pinterest Havens: A Whole Mood," a New York event meant to bring a mental health awareness Pinterest board to life. Activities included sound baths, talks about emotions, and even planting your intentions literally with seed paper, soil, and a tiny terracotta pot.
"So much of life isn't exerting false or toxic positivity, but living into the various emotions you feel and learning a little bit," Simon explained.
Several studies have linked longer use of social media with depression, especially in teens, as well as lower self-esteem and social anxiety. But platforms can also be used to find common ground with others. Pinterest searches for emotional awareness are up 22 times compared to last year, and users looking for quotes about mental struggles are up nine times.
According to the National Institute of Mental Health, one in five Americans has been diagnosed with a mental health disorder.
"It's a pandemic beyond anything that we understand," said Mental Health Coalition's chairman and founder Kenneth Cole. "I've also come to believe that it's, in fact, probably the oldest pandemic known to mankind, and at the same time maybe the newest, as it's been exacerbated because of COVID."
The Mental Health Coalition worked with Pinterest Havens to bring awareness to the importance of emotional health. Cole, known for his namesake fashion line, tapped his experience of using marketing to bring awareness to the AIDS crisis of the 1980s.
"The stigma can be overwhelming," he said of AIDS and mental health issues. "It's debilitating. It's potent, it's paralyzing. So how do you make it easy? How do you make it accessible, comfortable?"
He hopes people learn it's okay to open up, especially among groups like men and certain minorities that aren't perceived to be as open about discussing mental health topics.
"This is something that's societally infused, and we need to understand that, learn about it, get comfortable," he said. "This isn't going to change in a day. But I do think this process is at if we make huge strides, I think we're learning that it's okay to be vulnerable."
Joe Cecela, Dream Exchange CEO, explains how they are aiming to form the first minority-controlled company to operate an exchange in U.S. history. Watch!
A Michigan judge is putting sponges in the hands of shoplifters and ordering them to wash cars in a Walmart parking lot when spring weather arrives. Genesee County Judge Jeffrey Clothier hopes the unusual form of community service discourages people from stealing from Walmart. The judge also wants to reward shoppers with free car washes. Clothier says he began ordering “Walmart wash” sentences this week for shoplifting at the store in Grand Blanc Township. He believes 75 to 100 people eventually will be ordered to wash cars this spring. Clothier says he will be washing cars alongside them when the time comes.
The State Department had been in talks with Elon Musk’s Tesla company to buy armored electric vehicles, but the plans have been put on hold by the Trump administration after reports emerged about a potential $400 million purchase. A State Department spokesperson said the electric car company owned by Musk was the only one that expressed interest back in May 2024. The deal with Tesla was only in its planning phases but it was forecast to be the largest contract of the year. It shows how some of his wealth has come and was still expected to come from taxpayers.
At 100 years old, the Goodyear Blimp is an ageless star in the sky. The 246-foot-long airship will be in the background of the Daytona 500 — flying roughly 1,500 feet above Daytona International Speedway, actually — to celebrate its greatest anniversary tour. Even though remote camera technologies are improving regularly and changing the landscape of aerial footage, the blimp continues to carve out a niche. At Daytona, with the usual 40-car field racing around a 2½-mile superspeedway, views from the blimp aptly provide the scope of the event.
You'll just have to wait for interest rates (and prices) to go down. Plus, this deal's a steel, the big carmaker wedding is off, and bribery is back, baby!
It’s a chicken-and-egg problem: Restaurants are struggling with record-high U.S. egg prices, but their omelets, scrambles and huevos rancheros may be part of the problem. Breakfast is booming at U.S. eateries. First Watch, a restaurant chain that serves breakfast, brunch and lunch, nearly quadrupled its locations over the past decade to 570. Fast-food chains like Starbucks and Wendy's added more egg-filled breakfast items. In normal times, egg producers could meet the demand. But a bird flu outbreak that has forced them to slaughter their flocks is making supplies scarcer and pushing up prices. Some restaurants like Waffle House have added a surcharge to offset their costs.
William Falcon, CEO and Founder of Lightning AI, discusses the ongoing feud between Elon Musk and Sam Altman, and how everyday people can use AI in their lives.
