Why it's Pinteresting to me

I get that Pinterest's appeal is a mystery to some. Click on the image and then what?

Well, here's the main reason why I use Pinterest: for the same reason most artists have a Stash. Something about the image (or the idea behind it) appeals to me, and I want to put it in a virtual pocket to use later.

Also, pins take up a lot less room than my real-world paper stash.

Other reasons:

• rifling through other people's brains boards. Kind of like when you're a kid visiting a friend's house and you get to see what their room looks like.
• as a low-key Look What I Made billboard for friends I haven't met yet. And if I'm lucky, they'll say "hey! That's really cool!" And "Can I have one of those you made?"
• finding thought-provoking quotes styled in eye-catching typography -- pretty and smart

Things I've Learned While Pinning:

• wow, does Pinterest ever slow down around 5pm (in any time zone). Quittin' time must be pinnin' time!
• spammers like to use "bit.ly" as an pin image source. Also, they don't seem to realize randomly-titled boards, with less than five pins each, featuring a scantily-clad girl in the profile photo, are red flags.
• some people think "my style" means "my products for sale" and "crediting sources" means "plastering my business URL in every image description." Yeah... no.

Seductive little hits of dopamine for our brains, and some of us are more vulnerable to it than others. "I can stop whenever I want to. I just don't want to."

Why do you -- or don't you -- use Pinterest? Tell me in the comments.