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?


Bookmarks are even harder to clear than tabs, since they are more “long term”. furthermore, they require more effort. Opening and closing a tab is 1 click each. Bookmarks take 1 click to create at least, but 2 to delete at least.
The browser history requires a lot of effort to find what you want.
Basically I use tabs because they require less effort than any other method.
Fair enough. Smooth workflow matters too, and tabs certainly provide that.