Humans specialize in distraction, especially when the task at hand requires intellectual heavy lifting. All the usual “Is it lunchtime yet?” inner voices, and external interruptions like incoming phone calls, are alive and well.

But in the era of e-mail, instant messaging, Googling, e-commerce and iTunes, potential distractions while seated at a computer are not only ever-present but very enticing. Distracting oneself used to consist of sharpening a half-dozen pencils or lighting a cigarette. Today, there is a universe of diversions to buy, hear, watch and forward, which makes focusing on a task all the more challenging. — Katie Hafner —You There, at the Computer: Pay Attention (New York Times)

I was going to blog this earlier, but I got distracted.

Actually, I realized that blogging this article was an attempt to distract myself from another, higher-priority task that I was putting off at the time.