SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Study reveals that some coping strategies only make the problem worse:
Five billion people spend almost half of their waking hours online. According to a new study from Aalto University, browser clutter is a serious problem for one in four of them. The results will be presented on April 27 at CHI 2023, the leading conference for human-computer interaction research.
'We began exploring which challenges make users feel overwhelmed when browsing the internet. We also mapped the behaviors that cause the clutter and how users react to the stress,' says Associate Professor and Head of Department Janne Lindqvist.
Browsing habits play a major role in cluttering up a browser. Using interviews and an online survey, the researchers found that clutter-related stress goes up when users keep a large number of tabs and browser windows open, as well as because of interactive elements like ads and pop-up windows.
Multitasking adds to the problem, and it gets worse if users are hesitant to close tabs or are dealing with complex tasks. Clutter also accumulates when users have tabs open related to different online activities – for example, if they're managing a travel reservation in one tab and chatting with friends or colleagues in another.
[...] The study found that many users react to stress by trying to change either their behavior or their attitude towards the clutter. Only the former, problem-focused solutions, proved helpful in solving the issue. An example solution would be to consciously minimize clutter by deciding on an upper limit to the number of tabs you have open.
[...] The researchers pointed out that 'organizing' techniques, such as using tools to manage tabs, might just lead to more clutter. 'These approaches are similar to someone not actually cleaning but just rearranging things in the same space – the problem doesn't go away,' says Lindqvist.
[...] 'We use computers every day, and it's definitely not always ideal. Many things would actually be much better handled only on paper,' he says. 'I look at this from the point of view of how we can live a meaningful and good life despite computers.'
How many tabs do you have open right now?
Journal Reference:
Rongjun Ma, Henrik Lassila, Leysan Nurgalieva, Janne Lindqvist, When Browsing Gets Cluttered: Exploring and Modeling Interactions of Browsing Clutter, Browsing Habits, and Coping [open], CHI '23: Proceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, April 2023 https://doi.org/10.1145/3544548.3580690
(Score: 1) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday May 16, @11:52PM
Clutter sucks. Clutter is anything that I didn't ask for, or want on a page. Ads, reminders, warnings, alarms that content can't be shown due to ad blockers, etc ad nauseum. Seriously, that chick waving her teats in the javascript box doesn't even look appealing, she is clutter.
Eliminate all the clutter, and it doesn't matter how many tabs are open.
The relationship between clutter and the number of tabs open, is that each additional tab just adds to the clutter. Clear the clutter, and any number of tabs doesn't really change the experience. Well, aside from the potential to misplace a tab, then have to search for it.
Ublock Origin is my primary tool to block all the crap. Blocking ad servers on the router is my secondary tool. (that sounds kinda backward, don't it?)
If your browser is cluttered, why on earth would you want to multiply the clutter with additional tabs?
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.