Is Pinterest the Cave Art of the Future?

In 2010, Pinterest made its first appearance on the internet through its creator Ben Silberman. Although the platform's concept seems new, in reality, Pinterest is simply a reflection of the cave art found in the Paleolithic era. That reflection, however, may be a bit distorted.

Example of Cave Art

To understand this comparison, we first need to delve into the ideas and development behind Pinterest, and the history of cave art. During a keynote speech he gave in 2012, Ben Silberman stated that he'd "always thought that the things you collect say so much about who you are”. And it was with this mindset that Pinterest was born. By pinning images, we are able to make a statement about the things we like and what they say about us. Pinterest also wants to be a place where people discover, says Silberman. This takes into account the hundreds of new suggestions we receive each time the page is reloaded, or we scroll down to the more like this section of an image. Furthermore, most of the items pinned on Pinterest tell a great deal about who that person is.

Pinterest Feed

It can be said that cave art was created for similar reasons. Historian Christian Violatti indicates that "Cave paintings help to tell stories, be remembered, and remember things or store information”. This feeling of wanting to be remembered has been around since the beginning of time, and humans have always searched for a way to convey it, either with social media now or with cave drawings in the past.

Violatti also suggests other possible uses for cave art being:

• A structure/pattern meant to represent something

• Boundary markers by different communities

or simply...

• Mindless decoration

That being said, imagine a cave in front of you as a page on the internet, with the images drawn on the cave wall capable of being saved to your home page as plans for future ideas. Both of these media have a similar intention and they both contain symbolic images. The only differences between the two are the tools and surrounding environment of the time. Although there are great similarities between Pinterest and the Cave art of the past, it should be remembered that Pinterest was created in the digital age and not the stone one. Considering that we are in the digital age, the ability to convey who we are is much easier than it was thousands of years ago since social media is able to spread the word in a matter of seconds. The digital age has also made a difference in visual appearance. To make it appealing, Pinterest is set up in a grid-like layout with images that show up unintentionally save for the fact that interest has been shown in them. Yet with cave art, images were layered and sprawled across the caves, however, some images suggest intentional placement. This was mainly because of the surrounding environments during both periods. Today, we live a life of leisure and many of our activities, including Pinterest, are built around that. Continuing his explanation of what exactly Pinterest is, Silberman states:

“Pinterest’s mission is to get you offline and to do the things you love"

He also believes that “Pinterest is a place to plan the most important projects in your life”

This is a time where most of our choices are formed out of leisure and not purely survival. When cave art existed, however, was when survival was the main goal. So most of the reasons for the marks on the walls were mainly for planning the next meal, or for cultural reasons. This can be somewhat similar to Pinterest as well, but the art on cave walls was very limited and there was not much variety. However, in today’s age, there are thousands of images due to the fact that humans now have that leisure to create.

Ultimately, it can be said that both Pinterest and cave art are simply Cultural Universal: key elements shared by all groups of people through the history of humanity. Both of these “platforms” share the characteristic of a human’s need to be known. The tools for getting the message across, however, have simply evolved with time.

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Sources

Carlson, Nicholas. “Pinterest CEO: Here's How We Became The Web's Next Big Thing [DECK].” Business

Insider, Business Insider, 24 Apr. 2012, www.businessinsider.com/pinterest-founding-story-2012-4#ben-grew-up-in-iowa-most-of-iowa-looks-like-this-he-says-2.

“Lascaux.” Lascaux, archeologie.culture.fr/lascaux/fr.

“Pinterest.” Pinterest, pinterest.com/.

Violatti, Cristian. “The Meaning of European Upper Paleolithic Rock Art.” Ancient History Encyclopedia,

Ancient History Encyclopedia, 27 Feb. 2019, www.ancient.eu/article/787/the-meaning-of-european-upper-paleolithic-rock-art/.

Woodland, Kevin. “Language and Writing.” Graphic Design History. kevinwoodland.squarespace.com/language-and-writing.