Research would suggest that the typical person can handle 7 bits of information at any one time and the shortest time that it takes to process and discriminate one set of bits from another is 1/18th of a second.  Which means the typical person can take in and process 126 bits of information each second.  Now when you consider that the senses of a person gathers 11 million bits of information and input each second, you can easily see that what we can actually process is minuscule compared to the whole.  The brain must sort through all this information to determine what is critical and what is not and one of the first filters is determining what is a threat to me or what can do me harm, which is part of the work that the amygdala does.  And because of our evolutionary heritage the amygdala is hardwired to search for these dangers and threats with a a greater focus.  In fact, we tend to "let in" 9 negative bits of information for every 1 positive bit of information.  Knowing this, however, allows us to create a better environment for focus and eliminate distractions.  And understanding this science creates the imperative to do so to achieve excellence in what we pursue.

We are always falling in love or quarreling, looking for jobs or fearing to lose them, getting ill and recovering, following public affairs. If we let ourselves, we shall always be waiting for some distraction or other to end before we can really get down to our work. The only people who achieve much are those who want knowledge so badly that they seek it while the conditions are still unfavorable. Favorable conditions never come.  C.S. Lewis

An addiction to distraction is the end of your creative production.  Robin Sharma

When a person can’t find a deep sense of meaning, they distract themselves with pleasure.  Viktor Frankl