Hmm. I would say that the things to look up are the midday demon - you will see that later writings psychologize "acedia" more (another useful term; sort of represents executive dysfunction, though often especially the kind you get from depression), but I think it's fascinating to read those earliest writings that are portraying distraction as this external force that acts upon you. In this genre: the advice given to monks on how to stay focused, at work or at prayer. Re: work, copyists' complaints particularly have interesting analogical merit. Re: prayer, "lectio divina boredom" might be a good rabbit hole to go down.
One day I confessed a few sins to a very, very young priest, and he immediately discerned that I suffer from acedia. I'd never even heard of it, but he recommended a book for me to read, which I devoured. And it turns out that acedia is truly a rampant scourge of the modern world that is barely recognized for what it is.
You know how when you're sick but you have no diagnosis, it's difficult to treat or heal from it? Yeah, that's how it is spiritually. If you don't know the root causes or motivations for your sinful ways, you can't escape them and you're still in slavery.
So once I identified acedia (and it's a slippery, amorphous, insidious malady) I was able to make great progress along the path. In fact, God granted me the graces of self-knowledge and introspection so that I could further discern my identit, my vocation, and my destiny.
Yep so if you're doomscrolling your smartphone all day, or if you're addicted to Netflix/YouTube, you're probably suffering from acedia just as much as the French loved their absinthe and opium. Get diagnosed and get some help from above!
What a perceptive priest! Makes me kind of wish we Episcopalians had a routine around one-on-one confession - we have a rite of confession ("Reconciliation of a Penitent") in our prayer book, and any good priest would be happy to accommodate that request, but we don't have the physical (confession booths) or temporal ("Father So-and-So hears confessions every Saturday from 10-12") structures that put the idea into someone's head for "minor" sins.
However, at every worship service, we communally recite a confession of sins, and the phrase "and left undone" usually jiggles a couple things loose that, indeed, I have failed to do, to the usually slight but compounding detriment of my family or my colleagues - in other words, small (but compounding) sins of omission.
Unfortunately, I'd feel rather impolite pulling out a notepad or my phone to jot that down, and I've usually forgotten what it was by the time church lets out... (edited to add) but I could discreetly jot it down on the service leaflet.
And now I've looked up "acedia," and would love to know the title or author of that book your priest had you read.