In 2013, the movie “Her” made quite a splash by positing how a man, played by Joaquin Phoenix, could fall in love with an operating system. Now Annapurna Pictures, the production company that made the film, is forming a division to create virtual reality content. In this case, life imitates, well, an imitation of life.

What is it about our current reality that is so insufficient that we feel compelled to augment or improve it? I understand why people bury themselves in their phones on elevator rides, on subways and in the queue for coffee, but it has gotten to the point where even our distractions require distractions. No media viewing experience seems complete without a second screen, where we can yammer with our friends on social media or in instant messages about what we are watching.

Every form of media is now companion media, none meriting a single, acute focus. We are either the most bored people in the history of our species or the ubiquity of distractions has made us act that way. As Mr. Brooker said in a column he wrote for The Guardian several years ago, “If technology is a drug — and it does feel like a drug — then what, precisely, are the side effects?”

The individual need for placation and augmentation plays out in ways big and small. Because my daughters are grown, I used to worry about my friend’s younger children becoming bored when they stopped by to visit. Not anymore. The children are made to look up long enough to greet me, then they resume interacting with the screens in their hands.

And it’s not just those raised on screens who are prone to distraction. As adults, we make “friends” who are not actually friends, develop “followers” composed of people who would not follow us out of a room, and “like” things whether we really like them or not. We no longer even have to come up with a good line at a bar to meet someone. We already know he or she swiped right after seeing us on Tinder, so the social risk is low.

What matters more, the experience or the media representation of it? The president of the United States is in the middle of displaying mastery over all manner of new media, including but not limited to Medium, Facebook, YouTube and Reddit. Perhaps his traction on these platforms is distracting him from the fact that he has been less successful at the actual act of governing.