The stickers on my laptop serve one, single purpose: To differentiate myself from the boring people around me. There are other reasons why one would vandalize their laptop's surface like that. Let's dive into those reasons.
1. To Indicate Affiliations
Laptop stickers work like a clan's crest. They can be used to communicate which cultural subgroup the one belongs to. The selection of stickers also indicate our affiliations. We use them to signal to other insiders that we are one of them.
As humans, we like to feel as if we are part of something, be it a movement, a culture, or an organisation. We just want to belong. So we wear crosses, get tattoos on our body, wave flags, or stickerize our laptops.
2. Have Fun
A programmer is thought of as an overburdened workaholic who has nothing else to do with his life. But that's not true. To demolish that belief, showcasing how cool we are using stickers is actually an awesome idea.
Stickers on laptops are simply cool and it is fun to watch strangers reading them. This is the most common reason as to why people in tech like to sticker their laptops! It is simply a fun activity to enjoy and there's no harm in that.
They are also a way of showing off our Tech Stack.
3. Show Our Support for Certain Issues
Many social movements, like the LGBT movement, the feminist movement, Black Lives Matter, etc. amass attention. Now stickers won't be bringing about any drastic change, but they do allow us to broadcast our stand on the issues. Like most, developers also show support for issues close to their hearts.
4. To Express Ourselves
If you’d like a laptop to reflect the unique personality of its owner, stickers might be the easiest way to go.
Uh-Oh! We have a tough guy here 👇
Everyone has a unique sense of style. We usually like our Lappys to reflect that style. So we stickerize our laptops as another way of showing off a part of our personality. This is similar to hanging trinkets from rearview mirrors. It's just a nice way to make our machine our own.
5. Put a Bookmark on Memories
Tech conferences and conventions give out lots of stickers and tonnes of events are organised in the tech-world each year. These stickers are a reminder of where you've been. Just grab a sticky souvenir from your latest convention and you'll have a way of cherishing the time you had with other people in tech.
6. Advertisement
Businesses can use their logos to create custom stickers, to create company swag. These can be given to customers and employees, who’ll stick the branded stickers on laptops and coffee mugs.
Voila! They’ve been turned into brand advocates.
Tech conference speakers should get paid for the stickers on their laptops, like European soccer players' jerseys.
— Erik Rasmussen
Marketing heads should include laptop stickers in their campaign strategies. The machine is surely going to catch eyes, doesn't matter where it is opened up. An effective way of advertising for upcoming projects.
7. As a Thief Deterrent
An understandable reason being — to hide the logo, as thieves are usually on the lookout for laptops with expensive brands (Razor, Alienware, etc).
Some devs sort to sticker-bomb their laptops. Although sticker-bombing is an art form, if done right, it can make a laptop look ugly. It is hard to resale an ugly laptop because cleaning it is too much of a hassle. So thieves stay clear.
Cover photo by JASUR JIYANBAEV on Unsplash
I sure as hell hope this article has revived your craving to decorate your laptop. Are your reasons behind stickering your laptop listed here? If you've got something, head over to @prateek_aher or let me know in the comments.