I’m sure we’ve all been there. Something random breaks, a friend asks you what you should be for Halloween, you’ve bought something that looked really great on the mannequin, and now you have absolutely nothing to wear it for. Where do we turn for solutions to these problems? Back in the day, all 10 to 15 years ago, we simply asked a friend: Hey, what does this look cute with? Hi there, I really don’t want to buy a costume this year, any good ideas? Now, everyone gets their creative ideas from the Internet.
OK, maybe not everyone. Probably just me. We use the Internet like an encyclopedia, only everything in it doesn’t have to be true and nothing is in alphabetical order. At first it wasn’t a problem, just a handy little reference tool. But now, it is time for me to admit a shameful secret. I rely on Google, YouTube and Pinterest far too much in my day-to-day life. When I need a do-it-yourself solution to a household problem, like how to trap fruit flies, for instance, I head immediately to Google. This habit has already led to a number of disastrous but hilarious solutions. After one lengthy tutorial — packed with cell phone pictures for proof — I tried to trap fruit flies with a disgusting concoction of peanut butter, dish soap and mustard left around my fruit. It reeked, and I’m pretty sure it became their breeding ground. Don’t do it.
I have a question for these online tutorial makers: Why are you the way you are? Does it bring you joy to think of people spreading weird things in a circle around their apples? Does my idiocy keep you breathing? I don’t know, and I don’t care. I will admit I was pretty naïve to think it would work.
I have, however, had DIY tutorial successes. Since these websites became apps, I’ve been stumbling upon solutions for problems I didn’t know I had. Ways to steam clean your microwave with a kitchen sponge, for instance. I wasn’t aware my microwave required steam cleaning, but hey — someone out there probably appreciated me giving it a test run.
The fashion advice is probably the worst. I find myself perusing fashion blogs during class because taking notes is no longer the “in” thing. The extent to which I am on these websites has at times probably caused students in the rows behind me to label me materialistic and shallow. This is actually not true. I am just incredibly bored. Outfits of the day are even more entertaining to me than cleaning solutions and ways to organize my living space. But after an hour and 15 minutes of looking at my outfits choices for the day I start to wish I had a little more cash to get some of those amazing things I see online.
The solutions for domestic organization mostly make me bitter about my current living situation. I live in a perfectly good apartment with three other roommates in a sizable room that fits a dresser, bed, desk and even a bookshelf. I’m lucky. But looking at the grown ladies on Pinterest who have taken the time to organize their pantries by nutritional quality in potato baskets they bought at yard sales and lined with 99 cent fabric from the thrift store, I start to feel a little inadequate. My room, which I like just fine thank you very much, to me starts looking like an earthquake knocked everything down and I never picked anything up.
I think that’s the problem with my reliance on DIY sites. I am not like those people on YouTube or Google. I have classes to attend, basketball to play and friends to see. I am comparing myself to people who spend all day doing these things and beating myself up when I don’t succeed. I think next time, I’ll try and fix my fruit fly problem the old fashioned way — calling a friend and whining about it for three minutes.
_Simone’s column runs biweekly Tuesdays. She can be reached at s.egwu@cavalierdaily.com. _
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