Comment by lordleft

The difference between a medieval monk and a smartphone-wielding modern is that the former had fewer options for dopamine-generating distractions, while we have a limitless supply in our pocket. At a certain point the monk might be so bored that a treatise by Avicenna might actually be preferable to doing nothing at all, and that is no small inducement to deep progress, the processing of emotions, and contemplation more generally.