Believe it or not, there are people out there in the world who never change their desktop background. They simply go through life using the default background that came with Windows and loaded the day they turned their computer on for the first time. It doesn’t bother them, and they consider it perfectly functional. For most of us - and we hopefully include every visitor to our website in this - that would simply never do. The wallpaper we choose in an expression of who we are as a person, and choosing it is an important part of personalizing our computers and making them feel like they’re own.  

Is it possible that we’re giving too much away through our choice of background, though? What do our friends or colleagues make of our style choice when they walk past our screens and see what we’ve chosen to display on them? This subject has been covered from a psychological perspective in mainstream newspapers from time to time, and there may be something to say for the idea that we give away more about ourselves than we mean to when we choose a specific picture or style. What might yours be saying about you? Here are some common choices - and the secret messages that they give out about the people who choose them!

Pictures Of Yourself

These are a common choice - especially among office workers, who like to use pictures of themselves or their families enjoying happy times as a background to remind themselves of why they put up with their jobs. You might think that your cozy friendly or family-orientated photograph is motivational, or helps you to stay calm and balanced, but it may actually be telling people that you're a rampant narcissist. Various pieces of psychological research suggest that people who take too many selfies are likely to have narcissistic tendencies, so you might be unconsciously telling people that you like to see your own face as much as possible and that you're selfish by design. That probably isn't the idea you had in mind when you chose the picture.

Minimalist Wallpaper

A plain color, or a plain color with a few small details or designs on it, probably seems uncluttered and efficient to you. You can see where all your icons are, and there's nothing to get distracted by when you're clicking between tabs and applications. You're probably right about the lack of distractions, but you also could be communicating the idea that you're quite dull. You don't have an exciting background because you don't find anything all that exciting, and the idea of clutter appalls you. People who see your minimalist background probably correctly assume that you like to keep things neat and tidy, but they also assume that you're prone to stress, and you can't stand the idea of anything being out of place.

Wallpaper That Changes Every Week

What kind of chaos is this? Who starts off each week by changing their desktop wallpaper and giving themselves something new to look at? Some people do this religiously, and they make us all nervous. Not only does this lack of consistency imply that you have a scattered approach to life, but it's also communicating the idea that you're a risk-taker and a gambler. You're the type of person who's happy to funnel one hundred dollars into an online slots website like Amigo Slots in the hope that one hundred and ten might come back out the other end. Your employer is probably concerned that you might even be playing online slots on work time to fulfill your need for change and excitement. The guiding principle of online slots is that you spin and spin again until you end up with something you're happy with, and you're doing it with the screen you see most often during your working day. You're a rebel, and you have no care for the natural order of things!

Motivational Quotes

It's a good thing to have a motto in life, and if you have a favorite phrase or idea that brings comfort to you when you need it the most, there's nothing wrong with having it in your eye-line at all times. It's a reminder to stay grounded and focus on the bigger picture. Some of your friends and colleagues are likely to be worried about why you need such a reminder in your face every minute of the day, though. Is your life so unbearable that you need to repeat the phrase to yourself over and over just to get yourself through the day? Having an inspiring quote as a background implies that you're ambitious and you want to get ahead in life, but it also suggests that you're unhappy with your current environment and need constant motivation just to cope with it.

Hills, Fields, Trees, and Nature

These are among the most common of all backgrounds. A shot of the natural world's true beauty is helpful when it comes to keeping us calm and reminding us that there's a world beyond the borders of our home or office cubicle. Looked at another way, though, it's a subliminal suggestion that you'd rather be anywhere else than where you are right now. You don't want to be anchored to your desk dealing with reports and spreadsheets; you walk to be walking the hills with the wind at your back, or feeling the sand beneath your toes in a foreign country. People might think you're a dreamer, or that you have a strong interest in environmental causes. There's nothing wrong with that if you do, but it may not be the impression you want to give off to corporate contacts or people you'd rather knew as little about your 'real' life as possible.

We've been a little tongue in cheek with some of the descriptions here, but all of them have come from genuine psychological profiling advice. There are smaller things to consider, too, for example, the fact that having icons messily sprawled across your desktop suggests that you have no organizational skills, or that having plain blue wallpaper betrays a coldness to your personality. You can and should use whatever you wish to use as desktop wallpaper, but bear in mind that if other people can also see it, they're probably making judgments about you based on its content.