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Anybody else here thinks their ADHD influences some hoarding tendencies or fear-of-missing-out? I am basically a tab-opening machine. Whenever I come across any

by O_H_E 6y ago

Anybody else here thinks their ADHD influences some hoarding tendencies or fear-of-missing-out? I am basically a tab-opening machine. Whenever I come across any link that I feel might be helpful in some point in the future, I open it in the background knowing full well that I don't have time to look at it soon. Thank god for TheGreatSuspender, and SessionBuddy extentions.

aidenn0 6y ago
My personal thoughts are that it's a learned behavior; you know that you won't ever remember to check out that link later (like someone without ADHD might), so you open the tab as a defense against forgetting.
hmottestad 6y ago
FYI. Something something something the great suspender stealing all your data.
- philsnow 6y ago
  not just the great suspender, but any browser extension that both 1. asks for permissions like "Read and change all your data on the websites that you visit" / "Read and change your browsing history", and 2. either a. auto-updates, or b. includes by reference code that isn't contained in the extension bundle (so it could change day to day) "any extension" because popular extension developers regularly get offers to include extra code in their extensions, see e.g. https://old.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1vjj51/i_am_one_of_the_developers_of_a_popular_chrome/ https://old.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1vjj51/i_am_one_of_th...
Karawebnetwork 6y ago
> TheGreatSuspender https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25846504 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25846504
rejectfinite 6y ago
I am not diagnosed with ADHD. I do however have 400 tabs open in Firefox and about 30 in Edge.
- dijksterhuis 6y ago
  I regularly have around 8 windows of firefox and 2 windows of Safari. I just can't bring myself to close them.... What if I forget one of the things?!
  - eitland 6y ago
    TreeStyleTabs and an extension (yep) to that that lets you copy them to the clipboard as a markdown list - complete with indentation. Then paste it into Joplin or something.
renewiltord 6y ago
Possible, but here's an n=1 counterexample, I have a positive diagnosis and whether on medication or off it I strongly desire fewer tabs. Sometimes I'll over-close and have to Ctrl-Shift-T.
devmunchies 6y ago
Yes. I'm an information hoarder. Tabs and books. I have a long running daily log i keep for tasks and thoughts where I'll paste links so I don't have to keep the browser open. I can't bookmark because I never see them again.
nxc18 6y ago
I was probably trained by my IE6/400Mhz Pentium days, but I’m the opposite. As soon as I’m done with it, I close it. I’ve never understood how people can leave tabs open when they’re not actively using them.
TeMPOraL 6y ago
Not diagnosed, but strongly suspecting. I have a tab hoarding tendency; it took me a decade to notice the problem, and years of fighting it, but I've recently managed to make by brain accept that the burden of lingering tabs is greater than any value I can expect to get from them - so every couple days, I have a "screw this, let's clean the slate" moment, where I just close the browser window and reopen it fresh. I've also stopped saving links to stuff I found on-line, because I never revisit them anyway. I once thought my "to read" list was my most prized possession. Now I realize it was just a way of making my procrastination seem productive.
ericwood 6y ago
I've had the opposite experience; I do rely heavily on note taking (especially when it's something I can be distracted away from) but I find having more than 10 tabs extremely stressful and tend to close out as much as possible to avoid getting overwhelmed. Maybe that's a coping mechanism for the object permanence issues that come with ADHD.
JoblessWonder 6y ago
Yes... medication and therapy has helped though. Therapy helped FOMO (activities OR information) by letting me accept not knowing/experiencing things. It allows me to finally be ok with closing tabs I haven't looked at in months without worrying I'm missing some important piece of information. Medication helps me avoid opening up tabs without closing them out when I'm done. (Also, I use the Pocket extension to stash things away that I will "read later" even though I never do until I'm on a flight and need something to read.)
sizzle 6y ago
ADHD is a problem with your dopamine reward system and there are studies that link ADHD to risky behavior and higher risk of incarceration e.g. committing crimes, gambling, drug and alcohol addiction, etc. (anything to get more dopamine production going besides taking prescribed stimulants).
- nullsense 6y ago
  An enormous chunk of the prison population has ADHD.

by O_H_E 6y ago

aidenn0 6y ago

My personal thoughts are that it's a learned behavior; you know that you won't ever remember to check out that link later (like someone without ADHD might), so you open the tab as a defense against forgetting.

hmottestad 6y ago

FYI. Something something something the great suspender stealing all your data.

philsnow 6y ago
not just the great suspender, but any browser extension that both 1. asks for permissions like "Read and change all your data on the websites that you visit" / "Read and change your browsing history", and 2. either a. auto-updates, or b. includes by reference code that isn't contained in the extension bundle (so it could change day to day) "any extension" because popular extension developers regularly get offers to include extra code in their extensions, see e.g. https://old.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1vjj51/i_am_one_of_the_developers_of_a_popular_chrome/ https://old.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1vjj51/i_am_one_of_th...

Karawebnetwork 6y ago

> TheGreatSuspender https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25846504 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25846504

rejectfinite 6y ago

I am not diagnosed with ADHD. I do however have 400 tabs open in Firefox and about 30 in Edge.

dijksterhuis 6y ago
I regularly have around 8 windows of firefox and 2 windows of Safari. I just can't bring myself to close them.... What if I forget one of the things?!
- eitland 6y ago
  TreeStyleTabs and an extension (yep) to that that lets you copy them to the clipboard as a markdown list - complete with indentation. Then paste it into Joplin or something.

renewiltord 6y ago

Possible, but here's an n=1 counterexample, I have a positive diagnosis and whether on medication or off it I strongly desire fewer tabs. Sometimes I'll over-close and have to Ctrl-Shift-T.

devmunchies 6y ago

Yes. I'm an information hoarder. Tabs and books. I have a long running daily log i keep for tasks and thoughts where I'll paste links so I don't have to keep the browser open. I can't bookmark because I never see them again.

nxc18 6y ago

I was probably trained by my IE6/400Mhz Pentium days, but I’m the opposite. As soon as I’m done with it, I close it. I’ve never understood how people can leave tabs open when they’re not actively using them.

TeMPOraL 6y ago

Not diagnosed, but strongly suspecting. I have a tab hoarding tendency; it took me a decade to notice the problem, and years of fighting it, but I've recently managed to make by brain accept that the burden of lingering tabs is greater than any value I can expect to get from them - so every couple days, I have a "screw this, let's clean the slate" moment, where I just close the browser window and reopen it fresh. I've also stopped saving links to stuff I found on-line, because I never revisit them anyway. I once thought my "to read" list was my most prized possession. Now I realize it was just a way of making my procrastination seem productive.

ericwood 6y ago

I've had the opposite experience; I do rely heavily on note taking (especially when it's something I can be distracted away from) but I find having more than 10 tabs extremely stressful and tend to close out as much as possible to avoid getting overwhelmed. Maybe that's a coping mechanism for the object permanence issues that come with ADHD.

JoblessWonder 6y ago

Yes... medication and therapy has helped though. Therapy helped FOMO (activities OR information) by letting me accept not knowing/experiencing things. It allows me to finally be ok with closing tabs I haven't looked at in months without worrying I'm missing some important piece of information. Medication helps me avoid opening up tabs without closing them out when I'm done. (Also, I use the Pocket extension to stash things away that I will "read later" even though I never do until I'm on a flight and need something to read.)

sizzle 6y ago

ADHD is a problem with your dopamine reward system and there are studies that link ADHD to risky behavior and higher risk of incarceration e.g. committing crimes, gambling, drug and alcohol addiction, etc. (anything to get more dopamine production going besides taking prescribed stimulants).

nullsense 6y ago
An enormous chunk of the prison population has ADHD.