diff --git a/core/core-ui.el b/core/core-ui.el
index 0abd2eac8..71f75c035 100644
--- a/core/core-ui.el
+++ b/core/core-ui.el
@@ -207,6 +207,11 @@ read-only or not file-visiting."
 ;;
 ;;; Cursor
 
+;; The blinking cursor is distracting, but also interferes with cursor settings
+;; in some minor modes that try to change it buffer-locally (like treemacs) and
+;; can cause freezing for folks (esp on macOS) with customized & color cursors.
+(blink-cursor-mode -1)
+
 ;; Don't blink the paren matching the one at point, it's too distracting.
 (setq blink-matching-paren nil)