The history of “busy and distracted”.

Busy and distracted? Everybody has been, since at least 1710 – Frank Furedi | Aeon Essays

Busy, distracted, inattentive? Everybody has been since at least 1710 and here are the philosophers to prove it

The next time someone complains TV/computers/mobile phones/Pokémon GO/whatever is Ruining Everything™, remind them that people have been saying pretty much exactly the same thing, for one reason or another, for over 300 years.