How I’m Making Tabbed Browsing Work For Me

Remember when Firefox (and tabbed browsing, for that matter) first came out?  Remember what a revolutionary concept it was to keep going about your business without closing your browser window?  Unbelievable!  Monitors made the shift to widescreen and we were going to become so much better at multitasking.  Excellent.  So I quickly got into the habit of opening each link in a new tab and redirecting my attention every time.   I always figured I’d go back to whatever I was working on or looking at, but somehow that didn’t always happen.  So much for multitasking.

One hallmark of Aspergers is that we like to hyperfocus, that is, focus all of our attention on one thing.  Many of us also struggle with executive functioning.  (More explanation of EF here, but I’d describe EF difficulty as planning and organization getting lost in my head somewhere between the thought and the execution.)  Between the two, tabbed browsing alone is counterproductive for me so I’m trying to force myself to learn some new habits:

• Closing unnecessary tabs ASAP or at least periodically!  They’re a source of distraction and keep me from finding what I need.
• Opening one or two separate windows for pages that will stay open all day like Gcal.
• Keeping a pad of paper next to the computer to jot down tasks that I need to do instead of dropping what I’m in the middle of doing, because I know I’ll never come back to finish.  What, too old school for you?  The physical act of writing helps cement the thought in my memory!

Do you do any of these things?  What works for you?