Commutes and jobs are soaking up more time, most people live in places with increased travel times to anything, and there’s never been more opportunity for easy distraction - why spend 40 minutes round trip driving somewhere to do something when you can watch Netflix on the couch?
Most importantly, though, are smartphones: you didn’t used to have so much just a second away anywhere you went. There’s an entire industry building entertainment for people in lines, on transit, walking to their car, etc. so I don’t think it’s as much that distraction is replacing previous big activities but filling in lots of space throughout the day.
