I was expecting something like advice to avoid distraction, but found the author just as distracted as I constantly am. Not only by his own admission, but the piece itself just weaves in and out of his main point, taking as many detours as the characters in the novel he describes do.
His ultimate point seems to be that distraction should be viewed more as play rather than an impediment to work. I can agree with this conceptually, but wish I could get my inner monologue and capitalism to as well.
The essay is self-referential in a sort of Hofstadter GEB way, with individual sections containing allegorical forms of distractions or diligence (the writer being distracted by videos of a skateboarder who therein is relentless and very not distracted).
He is attempting to write an essay (the word "essay" itself coming from the French word meaning "to try") about distraction, while being distracted yet somehow talking about other kinds of distraction or not. It's very good. It's like a fuller, less abstract version of the "This is the title of the story, which is also found several times in the story itself."
His ultimate point seems to be that distraction should be viewed more as play rather than an impediment to work. I can agree with this conceptually, but wish I could get my inner monologue and capitalism to as well.