distraction

distraction

• noun 1 a thing that diverts attention. 2 a thing offering entertainment. 3 mental agitation.

He was at his letter-writing again in the morning. The little desk at the window was black, rivaling the blackness of his fire escape, those rails dipped in asphalt, a heavy cosmetic coat of black, rails equidistant but appearing according to the rules of perspective. He had letters to write. He was busy, busy, in pursuit of objects he was only now, and dimly, beginning to understand.
(Saul Bellow Herzog, Penguin Modern Classics, 2007, p. 102)