THE ATTENTION RESTORATION PROTOCOL

YOU’RE NOT LAZY, YOU’RE OVERSTIMULATED
Your eyes open before your alarm does.
For a half-second, there’s nothing. No emails, no notifications,
no to-do list. Just the ceiling, the quiet, and the last
flickering scrap of a dream you’ll never remember.
Then your hand moves. Not because you decided to move it
— it just goes, like it’s been trained. Like a dog that hears a bell.
Your fingers find the phone on the nightstand before your brain
has even fully rebooted.
And just like that, the day begins. Without you.
The screen lights up your face in the dark. Fourteen