A mobile terminal and a method of controlling the mobile terminal are provided. The mobile terminal includes a display configured to display a display area including one or more items, and a controller configured to set one or more virtual areas adjacent to the display area, wherein the one or more virtual areas have different attributes from an attribute of the display area, and configured to change and display at least one item selected from the one or more items depending on an attribute of at least one virtual area of the one or more virtual areas.