I own a computer. 

Specifically, I own a 15-inch Macbook Pro, and I’m one of those people who puts stickers on the back of  the computer lid.

After you look past my stickers on the other side of my laptop, you’ll see my desktop above my background, which I’ve grown to love. It stays up with me at night, handling the chaos I envelop my digital life in. 

Every file that has held important meaning to me since I got my laptop in 2019. The nostalgia I get from looking at my background from time to time supersedes any need for finding things in a timely manner. If I ever need to find a screenshot, meme, old word document, or photo, the search works perfectly fine.

People are constantly telling me that my desktop is somehow morally unacceptable. They intervene, look on shockingly, scorn me on Zoom, start an entire conversation about the horrid state of my desktop and even try to reach over and click the command to organize it. Why do people feel the need to object so much to the state of my laptop? Free expression includes the right to have a horribly, shockingly messy desktop.

This lifestyle that I’ve absolutely engulfed into my daily routine will stick with me forever. Anyone who seriously thinks I’m going to “ctrl click>clean up” needs to let go of that fantasy. 

People who own folders on their laptops or desktop computers only do it so they appear to have the “perfect” lifestyle. But this is a lie. They refuse to take risks. They’re the sheep of society. They’re the whole milk at the grocery store that no one buys anymore.

While many people believe that I can’t have a successful life with the status of my desktop, I firmly disagree. Stop telling me to clean up my desktop.