It's not just about feeling like we're finishing something. Opening various tabs also serves as a protection against boredom.
Having dozens of open tabs allows us to pretend we always do something, or at least we always do something. Maybe this is also driven by fear of losing information.
Quoted from Travel and Leisure, you are worried that you will miss important updates if you close the social media feed or the email account or news article. As a result, you will never close anything.
But this can cause excessive information. Even when you think you only focus on one window (tab), seeing all open tabs in the corner of the eye depletes mental energy and diverts you from the task at hand.
Based on multitasking studies, the tendency to open multiple tabs can actually change your brain. Some studies have found that heavy multitasker may perform worse on a variety of cognitive tests than people who don't try to consume media at such a frenzied pace.
Just like your brain, your browser and computer can only handle so much information at one time. To optimize the performance of your browser, Lifehacker recommends at most nine tabs that are open at once. With nine or fewer tabs, you can see all that is open at a glance.
