How to reduce digital distractions: advice from medieval monks | Jamie Kreiner
Sometimes they accused demons of making their minds wander. Sometimes they blamed the body’s base instincts. But the mind was the root problem: it is an inherently jumpy thing. John Cassian, whose thoughts about thinking influenced centuries of monks, knew this problem all too well. He complained that the mind ‘seems driven by random incursions’. It ‘wanders around like it were drunk’. It would think about something else while it prayed and sang. It would meander into its future plans or past regrets in the middle of its reading. It couldn’t even stay focused on its own entertainment – let alone the difficult ideas that called for serious concentration.
Interesting read on the age old problem of distraction. It is just made worse now with all of our digital devices clamoring for our attention.
Link: How to reduce digital distractions: advice from medieval monks
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