Is Distraction Good for Mental Health?

In 1985, media scholar Neil Postman argued that we as a culture are "amusing ourselves to death." By this, he meant that the emergent media environment was occupying an increased amount of our time and attention and diminishing our capacities for meaningful engagement and reflection.

In 2024, with even more devices that capture our attention, we might reframe his alarming point and ask: Are we distracting ourselves to death? Or, does this alarmist view overlook some of the benefits, especially for mental health, of well-timed distraction?

An Age of Distraction

In a recent book by neuroscientist Anna Lembke, she makes the claim that we live in a time of unprecedented leisure time. Despite persistent feelings of working too much, by historical standards, humans have more free time than ever before. The modern conundrum, in many ways, is what to do with this extra time?

In her book Dopamine Nation, Lembke argues that excessive free time can feel boring, and boredom can at times be “terrifying.” As she puts it, boredom “forces us to come face-to-face with bigger questions of meaning and purpose.” As a result, we often rush to fill the existential void of boredom with distractions that pull us away from ourselves into various forms of dopamine-boosting activities, from the relatively banal to the more extreme compulsive behaviors that she chronicles in her book. We may not be cognizant of our escape from boredom into distraction at first, but anyone who has tried to cut back on major dopamine-enhancing activities like alcohol, coffee, or even doom scrolling, quickly and frequently reports experiences of dullness, boredom, and overall lack.

Given the vast new array of digital technologies available to us 24/7, it is not surprising that new commerce has capitalized on our anxiety around distraction in order to create spaces and experiences free of devices and distraction, so as better to connect with others and ourselves. The most recent iteration I have noticed is the emergence of immersive sauna socials, which promise temporary escape from social media devices and other traditional vices such as alcohol and drugs. They are very popular.

Is Distraction a New Problem? (Or, What Medieval Monks Can Teach Us)

But is distraction a new problem and new burden on contemporary mental health? A recent article on monasticism and stoicism in The New Yorker reminds us that distraction has been a human problem for at least 1500 years. What Monks Can Teach Us About Paying Attention highlights the fact that distraction has long been a human problem before screens and media.

Author Casey Cep reminds us that medieval life was filled with endless distractions from the spiritual or mindful pursuits aimed at in monasteries. Work, labour, emotions, social life, and simple vices were all experienced as distractions from the spiritual pursuits of scripture or meditation. Monks sought to remove, manage, or develop habits to help mitigate the “human entanglements” that befall all of us. Indeed, long before screens, literary characters like Mrs. Dalloway from Virginia Woolf busied herself in the seemingly menial tasks of hosting and socializing. While modern screens may exert a particular psychological pull for us, so do pre-screen analog activities like work, gossip, or family management.

Are There Benefits to Distraction?

As Anna Lembke recounts, being with ourselves without distraction cannot only be boring but indeed painful and sometimes overwhelming. She herself recalls her own addiction to romance novels and describes the experience of withdrawal as one of “existential terror.” In my own practice, I have witnessed the challenges and pain of coming off of alcohol, cannabis, or pornography, which can lead to great periods of suffering and relived traumas. In the best cases, the client experiences great pain. In the worst cases, new maladaptive coping methods can occur, such as suicidal ideation or self-harm.

In these cases, when faced with overwhelming encounters with ourselves and our traumas, a little distraction can be life-saving. The increasingly popular therapeutic approach DBT (dialectical behaviour therapy) is rooted in a number of healthy distractions and activities that help clients manage psychic pain and avoid urges to manage with cutting or self-harm. Indeed, one of my favourite resources is an entire page of “distracting activities” to help with overwhelming feelings like despair and panic. The list includes watching a movie, taking a bath, cooking a meal, or watching a YouTube video.

The implications here are that sometimes we need a pause from ourselves, our thoughts, and our feelings. Too much avoidance may be one problem, but too much immersion in ourselves can be another problem for some. This often happens when clients are extremely motivated to solve and heal their issues quickly and permanently in therapy. Someone may feel like they have discovered the origins of their traumas and wonder why they don’t feel better.

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Having a cognitive understanding of attachment injuries and a toolbox of strategies might be very useful, but might not get you all the way to healing. For that, we need time, patience, and even a little distraction from the core issue itself. As many former clients have reported, sometimes a much-needed pause and break from intensive self-examination is good for the psyche and the spirit.