I asked Chatgpt if is there an official word for “having too many tabs open in a browser” and it replied with a bunch of them plus stating none are official. I picked “Tab hoarding” as it sounded the most accurate. There are two ways you get that many tabs one is more of a problem than the other I feel.
- You run across an issue, and while trying to find a solution the tab count increases. Once the issue is resolved you close them all and feel great!
- This one is dangerous, you run across a link you find interesting while surfing Discord, X, Reddit, etc. You open it in a new tab and then continue scrolling away on your app. This cycle repeats and you end up with 100s of tabs open. You’re stupidly feeling that you have found great content to consume “later”, which sadly doesn’t come. After all, there are only 24 hours in a day.
Over the past 1-1.5 weeks I have been trying to be more mindful of my internet usage.
- As a first step I have reduced the number of times I visit these apps.
- One change in particular that has worked wonders is I don’t check my phone immediately after waking up, doing this for around 2-3 weeks now I think.
- I wake up early in the morning, so by the time I use my phone for the first time already 1 hour has passed if not more. The initial days were not tough really but I hated the fact when observed that it had become muscle memory to check my phone. So happy that I got rid of that.
- So now instead of “phone checking”, I directly jump to reading a book.
- Similarly now throughout the day I try to reduce the number of times I check my phone, if I do use it I try to make it short.
- The above two points have helped contribute to the fact that I have read/listened to more books(Goodreads).
- Throughout the day I try to make myself aware whenever I use the phone and don’t want it to be a subconscious thing to reach out for it.
- The above doesn’t mean I don’t surf the internet just to explore something but be more specific about “when” I do it.
I generally have a schedule for my day apart from work, this helps me crave time for things I want to do like reading, writing, etc. Hence reducing the temptation to surf the internet, and OTT platforms mindlessly.
Overall I have to say I feel more satisfied with how I spend my day.
Having said that I still have things to become better at -
- Become better at dealing with “Tab hoarding”, currently I have way too many tabs open across all my devices. Don’t ask how many, I have run into the max limit for the browser and see it getting changed over time (I mean the max limit)! Recently though I have become better at opening fewer and even closing a few, so a small win I guess!
- I love to learn about new things, that’s something I hold dear. I need to remind myself continuously that I have to be specific with that. Not trying to do too much together, becoming overwhelmed end up doing nothing. I feel this I’m gradually becoming better at, still a long way to go.