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?
Because people are overworked or overwhelmed, in my experience.
I noticed that people who are laid back and or relaxed for whatever reason, will close them.
On the other hand, people I know that regularly overwork themselves have a billion tabs open all the time.
They could also be tech illiterate I guess.
Being overwhelmed sounds like a very plausible explanation for some cases. When you’re constantly bounced between tasks, there’s no time to tidy things up. Sounds like an early warning sign of burnout, and being tech illiterate will only aggravate it.
Next time I see a coworker with a hundred tabs, I better ask if they’re feeling ok.