How often should you change your profile picture?

[Nomi]

This is interesting.

I do not think just one thing about all people who change their profile pictures often because people do it for different reasons and you can often sense the reasons. Some people are obviously just having fun putting up lots of new profile pictures; other people do it in a way that shows a kind of vanity that is off-putting.

I don't feel like there is one good time frame for when a person should change their profile picture. It doesn't really bother me when someone has the same one for a very long time. It's more likely to bother me when they change them frequently, but, like I said above, not necessarily. Also, if it's a kid (under 18, say), then it's different too. Teenagers get a pass on being preoccupied with how they look. An older person who is clearly preoccupied with how they look can be a turn off. Of course, most of us are thinking about how we look. That's normal. But when it gets to the point where it's really obvious, it gets icky.

A photo shoot taken specifically for a profile picture, unless it's for some professional reason, seems excessive and vain. But, if you had a portrait done anyway, and you like it and want to use it as a profile picture, I think that's fine.

It doesn't usually bother me when people go back to an older profile picture. It can be a little sad if someone who's getting older, a woman, particularly, keeps returning to a much younger photo where they must think they looked more attractive. You can get away with a much younger photo once in a while, but somehow it's always obvious when the person believes they were hotter in the older picture. That is normal too, to wish you were younger looking after a certain age. It's a question of it bothering you so much that you reveal that discomfort when you don't really mean to.

Hope this helps.