Are We Addicted to Distraction?

Written By: Katrina Case, MSN-Ed., RN

Individuals are more than ever Addicted to Distraction!

Attention is the new currency. In 2025, the average adult checks their phone over 300 times a day, while reported focus spans continue to shrink. We live in an age that rewards constant connection but punishes stillness — and our mental health is quietly paying the price. Are we indeed truly addicted to distraction?

Our minds crave quiet, yet we fill every silence. We scroll while we eat, stream while we work, and check our phones between checking our phones. Somewhere along the way, distraction stopped being a habit — and became a way of life.

We tell ourselves we’re “multitasking,” but the truth is simpler: we’ve trained our brains to seek constant stimulation.

The Everyday Scenario: Caught in the Loop

It’s 8:30 p.m. You finally sit down after a long day, promising yourself to relax for just a few minutes. You open your phone to check one message. Then a notification lights up — a sale, a friend’s post, a breaking news alert. Before you know it, an hour has vanished. Dinner sits cold. The quiet moment you craved never arrives.

Sound familiar?

What you’ve just experienced isn’t weakness or poor discipline — it’s neuroscience. Every ping or swipe triggers a burst of dopamine, the neurotransmitter involved in reward and pleasure (Ritz et al., 2024). Over time, our brains learn to crave that next hit of stimulation. Distraction becomes both the symptom and the drug.

The Brain’s Struggle for Focus

Recent studies reveal that attention and distraction aren’t opposites — they’re competing systems.

• Brown University researchers found that focusing and filtering use distinct neural networks. Losing focus doesn’t mean lack of intelligence — it’s evidence of an overworked control system battling multiple inputs (Ritz et al., 2024).

• Yale University scientists discovered that visual clutter — even a messy workspace — weakens how efficiently the brain transfers information between regions, draining cognitive energy (Locklear, 2024).

• The Ohio State University observed that when adults experience high mental load, their attention becomes childlike: broad, scattered, easily hijacked (Wan & Sloutsky, 2025).

Our brains evolved to notice novelty and danger — survival tools once essential. But in today’s digital era, novelty is endless. Each notification, ad, and scroll exploits that same primitive system.

Why Stillness Feels So Uncomfortable

Stillness exposes what distraction hides.

When the noise fades, we meet the things we’ve been avoiding — anxiety, boredom, grief, fear. That’s why stillness can feel unbearable.

A 2025 exploratory review on “brain rot” described how constant exposure to low-value digital content leads to cognitive fatigue, impaired attention, and emotional desensitization (Yousef et al., 2025). The more we avoid silence, the less tolerance we have for it — creating a cycle of avoidance disguised as productivity.

The Hidden Costs of a Distracted Mind

Constant stimulation comes at a price:

• Reduced focus and creativity: Deep thought requires mental quiet. The brain’s default mode network — responsible for imagination and introspection — activates only when we’re not multitasking.

• Anxiety and fatigue: Continuous alerts keep the nervous system in mild fight-or-flight mode, raising cortisol and disrupting rest.

• Fragmented relationships: We hear but don’t listen, speak but don’t connect. Presence disappears when attention divides.

• Emotional avoidance: Distraction becomes an escape from pain rather than a path toward healing.

MIT researchers recently discovered that during mental fatigue, the brain attempts to “flush” cerebrospinal fluid in brief waves — a process meant for deep sleep — signaling that chronic distraction exhausts our neural systems (MIT, 2025).

Similarly, the American Psychological Association (APA, 2024) found that people who multitask across digital devices show 40% lower productivity and higher stress due to cognitive switching costs.

The Personal Mirror

I catch myself doing it too — opening my phone between writing paragraphs, glancing at the screen when silence stretches too long. It’s humbling to realize distraction isn’t just “out there.” It’s inside us, woven into routine.

Awareness is the first form of freedom. Once we see the pattern, we can begin to choose differently.

Reclaiming Attention: The Small Steps Back to Presence

Breaking the addiction doesn’t require perfection. It begins with intention — the choice to live deliberately.

• Protect sacred moments: No devices during meals, walks, or before bed.

• Single-task deeply: Choose one activity and give it full focus.

• Relearn boredom: Let your mind wander; creativity often hides in stillness.

• Declutter your environment: A tidy space quiets visual input.

• Prioritize rest: Without true rest, attention becomes brittle and easily hijacked.

A simple practice: spend ten minutes each day with no input — no sound, no scrolling, no agenda. The first few moments may feel uncomfortable. But in that stillness, your brain begins to heal its own rhythm.

Neuroscience of Presence

Did You Know?

The brain’s Default Mode Network (DMN) becomes most active during daydreaming, reflection, or silence — moments once dismissed as “doing nothing.” Neuroscientist Marcus Raichle (2023) found that this network supports creativity, emotional regulation, and self-awareness.

In other words, when you stop doing, your brain starts connecting.

Reflection: The Quiet We’ve Forgotten

Ask yourself — When was the last time you were truly present?

Not half-listening, half-watching, half-doing — but completely there.

Distraction numbs us. Presence heals us. And somewhere within the quiet we keep avoiding, there’s a version of ourselves we’ve been missing all along.

Challenge for the Week

For the next 24 hours, simply notice how often you reach for your phone out of habit. No judgment — just awareness. Every pause you reclaim is a step toward presence.

Share your reflections below or on social media using #ReclaimYourFocus.

Let’s rediscover the art of being here — together.

References

American Psychological Association. (2024). The distracted mind: How digital multitasking impacts focus and well-being. APA Monitor on Psychology.

Locklear, M. (2024, October 22). “Visual clutter” alters information flow in the brain. Yale News. https://news.yale.edu/2024/10/22/visual-clutter-alters-information-flow-brain

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. (2025, November 4). MIT scientists discover how the brain spins back into focus. ScienceDaily.

Raichle, M. E. (2023). The default mode network and the science of self-generated thought. Nature Reviews Neuroscience.

Ritz, H., et al. (2024). Lack of focus doesn’t equal lack of intelligence — it’s proof of an intricate brain. Brown University News.

Wan, Q., & Sloutsky, V. (2025). Adult distraction mimics childlike behavior as working memory is overloaded. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General.

Yousef, A. M. F., et al. (2025). Demystifying the new dilemma of brain rot in the digital era. Journal of Digital Health.