It's not distracting for something to happen when you click a link; it's distracting for *nothing* to happen when you click a click.
Sitting around for a while after clicking just to realize that the browser missed the click is aggravating, not "zen". The tab icon isn't a consistent location (tabs move), it's far removed from the action needing feedback (the user's eyes are on the cursor; he shouldn't have to look somewhere else after every click), and in fullscreen there are no tabs to begin with.
The result is a UI that lacks feedback and feels unresponsive. This is akin to pages that remove link underlining despite the UI breakage it causes, because they think it looks "sleek".
It's not distracting for something to happen when you click a link; it's distracting for *nothing* to happen when you click a click.
Sitting around for a while after clicking just to realize that the browser missed the click is aggravating, not "zen". The tab icon isn't a consistent location (tabs move), it's far removed from the action needing feedback (the user's eyes are on the cursor; he shouldn't have to look somewhere else after every click), and in fullscreen there are no tabs to begin with.
The result is a UI that lacks feedback and feels unresponsive. This is akin to pages that remove link underlining despite the UI breakage it causes, because they think it looks "sleek".