Why I only use plain black wallpapers (tiramisu.bearblog.dev)

I do the same for my work phone and laptop. (The laptop Windows lock screen is the mandated company logo screen -- making it easy to see if the computer has been locked when you've left your cubicle.) My tablets have a grey "smoke" background. I'll sometimes do it with my personal phone and computers; but, I tend to change those every so often.

Welcome to the club.

Intriguing as it could be, I thought the author liked black wallpapers in his home before opening the page

I do this for my home computers out of laziness.

In case I want to take a nap in a room with a computer, I don't have to shut off the monitor to turn off the light it emits because the desktop is already black.

I've used the New Horizon's picture of pluto for the last 7 years. Am I using my computer as a tool or a fashion accessory?

I’ve had the same blue wallpaper since Rhapsody in 1998-ish.

> Your devices are tools, not fashion accessories.

I agree, but I'm definitely in the minority at my company. It's amazing how many stickers can fit on one laptop lid.

I use dark grey with no icons. Black is quite stark and it's hard to tell if the display is on. It's extremely rare that I even use the desktop for anything other than to have a window covering it up. An update replaced my background with a photo and I didn't even realize it for probably months. It was up so long the photo was out of season and I barely recalled it being changed.

Tools not fashion? Sheesh, get over yourself and gatekeeping what others can enjoy.

I personally use a black desktop background - and a black shell background as well - as a way of establishing negative space. It feels much cleaner and less distracting than some of the other common backdrops I've seen: colorful wallpapers adding art to my desktop, semitransparent shells distracting me with what's behind them, and I'd be remiss without mentioning Aero on Windows, which turned the entire window stack, titlebars and all, into layers of transparencies.

Wow, hello friends. I had never thought there were others like us.

I resonate with the mental health and minimalist themes. Also, I personally feel that even though I don't have wallpapers anywhere, I nevertheless have a strong aesthetic. I take time in choosing my editor font, colours, spacing etc. And I have a particular preference for dark over black modes for example.

I also never listen to music when focussed. But I play guitar and very much enjoy diving into Youtube musical rabbit holes with my headphones turned right up.

Might I even go as far to say that the plain black wallpaper philosophy is more about the joy of colour and stimulation than conventional wallpaper!?

"What's a wallpaper?" - A tiling windows master race plebian.

> As far as I can see, I'm the only person at the office who does this.

Well, you plus everyone whose copy of Windows isn't activated.

Computers are fashion accessories though.

Like most of the time we are doing stuff over ssh or editing text files. Yet we still give devs top of the line mac books. I dont think it makes sense other than as a status symbol.

Nice thought. I like the intent.

I find #333 an even more neutral color. I may add my own art, family and friends, or goal and inspiration pieces.

  for n in {0,3,6,9,c,f}; do
    convert -size 2880x1800 "xc:#$n$n$n" bg.#$n$n$n.2880x1800.png;
  done

I suppose if you wanted to go whole hog, you could take a similar approach to what Australian law mandates for cigarette packaging: set the background to unpleasant shit brown and have images of the corpses of people involved in texting and driving accidents and social media provoked suicides, with warnings in huge white letters like "DEVICE OVERUSE CAN KILL" or something.

I honestly don't think wallpaper will affect you (or your "relationship" with devices) that much, but do whatever works for you.

FWIW, I normally just use the default wallpapers came with the device. They are typically some landscapes or color gradients that don't have much fine details to inference with the icons, and that's good enough for me.

Trivia: The picture in the article was taken in Valparaíso, Chile.

I have wallpapers on my desktop and phone, but honestly hardly ever look at them. Even on the desktop, I pretty much always have various programs maximized or nearly so. If I feel the need to take a break, I either just browse the web (awkward-look-monkey.jpg) or get up from the computer.

I prefer a plain gray background just on utilitarian grounds - I want to focus on whatever's on top of it.

I was having a hard time concentrating one day and just switched to plain black. This was months ago. Still black.

As much as I understand the reasoning behind this thought, I do not agree with it. Yes, my devices are tools and as much as possible, I'd like to keep my tools looking nice. For me, part of that is having a nice wallpaper. I am forced to use a Windows computer at work but you know what? I actually like the new picture they use on the lock screen everyday. It's simply the feeling of "oh that's a nice looking place" and then getting to work.

I use black wallpapers on all my machines as well. A black background means no icons get camouflaged by the wallpaper, and helps keep me focused on what I'm doing.

My computer is neither a tool nor a fashion accessory. It’s a ship, and it has a name, and it has taken me places I wouldn’t otherwise be able to imagine. You can paint it black if you want to, but you better treat it right.