In the past, Pinterest has approached emotional well-being by focusing on mitigating risk. “For a number of years, we’ve worked with emotional health experts to address pinners in distress,” says Ta. If someone searches for terms related to suicide, the platform nudges them toward the appropriate resources, like the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. Those and other terms, like “self harm” and “cutting” or “bulimia” and “thinspiration,” won’t display pins at all. Pinterest blacklisted those queries several years ago and instead surfaces a message encouraging pinners to get help.

Arielle Pardes covers personal technology, social media, and culture for WIRED.

But Ta reports there are plenty of other searches on the platform that aren’t as extreme. The company sees millions of queries every year around stress or sadness. People come to Pinterest looking for advice on how to deal with difficult emotions, or simply find something nice to look at when they’re feeling anxious. “If pinners are already actively looking for these things, can we meet them where they are and give them some activities that will help them feel better?”

The new exercises are modeled after clinical research from Stanford, which focused on short sessions to improve someone’s mood or reduce stress levels. One exercise, called “deep breathing,” offers a short guided meditation. You inhale, hold your breath for three seconds, and then exhale for six seconds. Another one encourages you to practice gratitude.

It seems startlingly simple. But the research shows that it works, according to Nina Vasan, a clinical professor at Stanford’s School of Medicine and the founder and director at Brainstorm. Deep breathing can reduce stress levels, and there’s evidence that writing a weekly “gratitude letter” can measurably improve someone’s mood over time.

To develop the Pinterest exercises, Vasan and her team combed through evidence-based therapies, from cognitive behavioral therapy to acceptance and commitment therapy. The “micro treatments” are designed to work in any context, whether you’re on the subway or at the office, and completely for free. “We thought about the biggest barriers for why people don’t get help,” says Vasan. “Only a small minority of people come to the doctor’s office, but what if we can apply what we know from the clinic and take it to people where they are, literally, which for more than 250 million people is on Pinterest.”

And while there are thousands of mental health-focused apps on the market, Vasan thinks downloading one can be a separate barrier. Pinterest has an opportunity to serve people who want a pick-me-up, but aren’t ready to pay $60 a year for a subscription to Calm. “It’s just like how you’re much more likely to exercise if there’s a gym in your building or office than if you have to take a bus to get there,” she says.

Simple, yes—but the new exercises nudge Pinterest a little closer to its ultimate destiny: being the place on the internet you go to find your happiness, even when you’re feeling weary.


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