for work i have to have like 3 PDFs open, my IDE, a browser, etc.

it's nice being able just switch to a clean desktop to browse the internet or write an email without messing up my window placement or getting lost in a bunch of layers.

First desktop for work/study related windows another for research/info related windows and third one for chill/media related windows, sometimes you work on more than two documents at the same time and researching theme with timeouts for chill so multiple desktops is very useful

Using multiple desktops may help you keep all those open programs more organized. :)

I use only use them at work. One desktop is for e-mail, chats, and my music player, the other has all the stuff I need for whatever I'm actually working on at the moment. If I'm switching back and forth between two unrelated tasks, I might use a third to keep everything for the two tasks separate.

music can stay on one workspace

work on another

messenger on another.

my alt-tab is always in the right order, and accessing specific functions like music or messaging is a whole other key sequence and muscle memory.

It's like having a second or third monitor but instead of moving your eyes to the other monitor you move the desktop you're currently looking at.

It's good if you have sets of apps open for different tasks. I used to have one for programming (text editor/browser/console) and one for graphic editing (gimp/console/image viewer/blender), and one for general browsing/time wasting, all on two monitors. Pretty handy to keep your focus.

I used to use them a lot when monitors were smaller and I put one full screen window on each desktop. With bigger monitors and multiple windows open on just one, I don't really use them anymore.

For every desktop there is a desk-bottom, so one is wise to be cautious ʘ‿ʘ