Some distractions are meaningful and productive, just as certain objects hardly deserve the attention we give them. Perhaps you’re envy-scrolling on Instagram when you hear a strange chirp overhead and find yourself marveling at the sight of a violet-backed starling. In that instant, a negative attention transforms into a beautiful distraction.

When we feel lonely, bored, angry, frustrated, worried, we distract ourselves with the shiny screen that is more accessible, that shows us often irrelevant things. We distract ourselves with distractions. Let us distract ourselves better.

Someone with full hearing capabilities, in truth, cannot say that he is not able to listen. He can only say that he was not interested.