I just saw a coworker with something like 30 tabs open in Chrome. I also know someone who regularly hits the 500-tab limit on their phone, though I suspect that’s more about being messy than anything else.

When I’m researching something, I might have 10-50 tabs open for a while, but once I’m done, I close them all. If I need them again, browser history is there.

Why do people keep so many tabs open? Is there a workflow or habit I’m missing? Do they just never clean up, or is there a real benefit to tab hoarding? I’m genuinely curious. Why do people do that?

  • mrgoosmoos@lemmy.caEnglish
    52·
    20 hours ago

    • because I’m working on multiple tasks at once, and some of those tasks require comparing things like data sheets or products or reading multiple documents

    • because I don’t want to dig up the thing I was looking at yesterday with a 10-tab group, but I also ran out of time yesterday to complete the task

    • because I can and it’s convenient

    • because I keep something open until I have dealt with it, so it functions as a task list

    • TranquilTurbulence@lemmy.zipOPEnglish
      2·
      6 hours ago

      Those are pretty solid arguments. Also, you’re not alone. There are lots of people who have a stack of tabs open for the exact same reasons. I hadn’t considered those reasons before, so thanks for making me aware of them.

      • mrgoosmoos@lemmy.caEnglish
        2·
        15 hours ago

        I purge them as often as I can, but my phone has some tab groups that just stay up perpetually because it’s convenient, and it’s not like they’re actually all loaded at once. for example I have a few tab groups on vehicle maintenance topic or two that I am slowly working on. chrome on android has tab groups that basically functions as a favourites menu

        but yeah on a computer, I have about a dozen core tabs for work that stay pinned on one window at all times, and then I add 1-3 other windows throughout the day as I work. one or two might just be a couple tabs each for comparing stuff. one might be a temp window for tasks somebody asked me to look into when I have a couple spare minutes. one might be a bunch of tabs doing research on something. but they either get processed and completed, or written down to deal with another day, I don’t keep them up until the next day unless I’m really just over work that day lol