Our reliance on stimulation, our inability to “sit in our chamber” or in a hammock in the Amazon for hours at a time, means we are constantly reaching for a place to put our attention, yet the ready availability of diversions also seems to create a world of boredom’s alter ego: distraction. As a rough scheme, we might characterize the different states of mind we experience as rough matches between how much there is to pay attention to: too little, too much, and just enough. Boredom is the state where there is not enough that’s interesting to pay attention to. Distraction is the state of having
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