I often observe that we’ve become a culture of constant stimulation. The TV must be on, we cannot drive without the radio or walk without an mp3 player. A large part of our populace lives in video games or myspace. It is the equivalent of the soul being kept alive, in a kind of half-life, by machines. Coming across St. Kosmas again, this quotation stands out:
He who is under the power of sin cannot by himself prevail over the will of the flesh, because he suffers continual stimulation in all his members. — Saint Kosmas Aitolos