In the modern metropolitan environment, consumers are overwhelmed with data coming at them from all sides of the physical and online worlds. TV and computer screens have become almost unavoidable, popping everywhere from elevators to bathrooms, blasting a cornucopia of ugly, unhappy information.

The Internet can be a beautiful place, but users had to look fairly hard for a style of artistic engagement online before the Instablogging trend took off. Sites like Pinterest bring creativity and storytelling to the web in, for the first time, highly social incredibly easy to use interfaces.

Furthermore, they not only challenge users to think more aesthetically, veering away from the anxious over-sharing of Facebook and often dour real-time updates of Twitter, but they also force advertisers and editorial entities to embrace this style of pure self-expression.

In a way, Pinterest and the social aesthetic represent a little slice of digital serenity – and that’s addicting.