Could there a link between distraction and mental illness? Certainly a full day of nonstop stimulation and switch-tasking– ringing phones, dealing with customers, responding to little kids, etc.– can be enough to make you feel like you’re going crazy. Problems with memory, recall, and ability to concentrate are among the signs of clinical depression. But Christy Matta asks

When Shakespeare wrote of “distraction” in his plays and sonnets, however, he was not speaking of something that diverts our attention. Back then, the word was used to describe a state of mental disturbance or insanity. Even today, one definition of the word “distraction” can imply some degree of emotional upset.

So was Shakespeare onto something?… [C]an repetitive distraction — nonstop ringing phones, incessant email and text message interruptions, meetings and co-workers who need immediate attention — contribute to mental distress or even mental illness?

Ultimately, she admits that while “continual distraction can certainly contribute to stress,” the link connecting “external distractions to stress to emotional disturbance has not been clearly researched.” So don’t worry about this yet. Worry instead about Game Boy Back, which is a thing.

* To take but one example, the Mayo Clinic web site lists “Trouble thinking, concentrating, making decisions and remembering things,” and “Indecisiveness, distractibility and decreased concentration” among the symptoms of depression serious enough to require medical attention. And there seems to be a pretty wide consensus among psychiatrists that memory and concentration issues are common among people with depression.