Things that take your attention away from what you're supposed to be doing or thinking about.
From Latin 'distractus,' meaning 'pulled apart,' composed of 'dis-' (apart) and 'trahere' (to pull). The meaning has always involved mental attention being divided or pulled away.
Your brain actually can't truly multitask—distractions literally pull different neural networks in your brain apart, which is why switching between tasks makes you slower, not faster!
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