A new and extensive study by Hunch.com shows that persons who keep their desktops cluttered are more likely to be liberal, have a higher education, are career orientated and good math, while a person who keeps his desktop tidy and clutter free is more likely to be young suburbanites, somewhat techy and allegedly put their personal life ahead of work.
The Hunch.com service, which is basically a recommendation website based on your inputted preferences, used data gathered from 80 million answers to questions that it asked its 700,000 members to predict particular demographics, personality and other characteristics based on their computer desktop.
Also in the report, it seems men are 13 percent more likely to have a cluttered desktop than women, which isn’t all that unpredictable; it’s enough to compare two rooms occupied by people of opposite sex to see the same effect. Like presented earlier, the study also shows that people with messy desktops are 7 percent more likely to have completed a four-year college degree and 19 percent more likely to have completed a graduate degree.
People who live in crowded cities are also more inclined to keep a cluttered desktop (42 percent), while those that keep it clean are 9 percent more likely to live in the suburbs and 13 percent more likely to live in a rural area.
“Messiness seems to skew two ways; someone may be messy because they use the computer for various endeavors, which could explain why CEOs are more likely to have messy desktops,” Amanda Green, lead author of the Hunch report, told TechNewsDaily. “On the other side of the spectrum, some people are messy because they don’t know how to get organized. They’re not that comfortable with their computers, and they may not really rely on the computer enough to let the mess bother them.”
Self-described entrepreneurs, which have shown to have a messy desktop, seem to be 12 percent more likely to have a stronger aptitude for mathematical concepts and numbers. They believe work is an important part of their life and sometimes put their personal life on the second plane.
On the opposite direction, neat people, who tend be more tech orientated, are 5 percent more likely to put their personal and social life first and 10 percent more likely to say they work just to pay the bills.
I found this study really appealing because I’m one of the cluttered ones. Really cluttered ones, but surprisingly enough, although anyone who happens to catch a glimpse of my desktop says I’m disorganized, I am very aware of everything that’s on my desktop as well as of the other folders in my computer. Here it is below.
I even somewhat fit the stereotype of the study. I’m good at math, I’m studying engineering, and I’m interested in entrepreneurial ventures, but I tend to keep my personal life above work or school, however.
Let’s make an experiment based on the study, shall we? Right now, print screen your desktop (don’t cheat and clean up) and upload it on the web or right in the comment section (just click on the comment field below our partners and tap “add image”). Add a short one paragraph description of yourself regarding your tech aptitudes, career, math skills. Should be fun.
Study via LiveScience.
