• vithigar@lemmy.ca
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    9 months ago

    In contrast to the other user folders, the desktop is filled with program links that won’t even work anywhere else.

    As someone who used to work in IT I wish that was the case. The desktop is a catch-all for basically anything that might momentarily enter a user’s field of vision.

    Application shortcuts, URL shortcuts, broken application and URL shortcuts, PDFs, images, a copy of their child’s baby album, a folder that’s just called “stuff” where all their actual work is saved, seven different copies of the same recipe for homemade pasta sauce, six empty files named “New Text Document”, and a recycle bin full of things too important to delete.

    But you can’t put anything anywhere else, because they “have a system.”

    • Exocrinous@lemm.ee
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      9 months ago

      With the digital realm becoming increasingly important and approaching the physical realm in terms of importance and familiarity, I now consider people who use their desktop for everything to literally be hoarders. It’s mental illness. I forgive it in old people but if you grew up on computers and you live like this, this is a clinically significant unwillingness to clean up one’s personal space.

      • vithigar@lemmy.ca
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        9 months ago

        I agree with most of this, but honestly take it a step further. On my Windows machine I don’t put anything on my desktop at all, and turn desktop icons off entirely. It’s literally the worst possible place to put things that you frequently need because it’s covered up by anything you’re doing. You need at least one interaction to get there regardless, so just use the start menu.

        • Exocrinous@lemm.ee
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          9 months ago

          The desktop is a good place to put stuff that I use rarely and may forget that I have or forget the name of.

          For example, the games I own on Epic that I like are on my desktop, because I’d forget I had them if I had to open Epic to see them.