Home › Forums › Inspiration / Mussar › Spending too much time reading news
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November 19, 2014 5:53 pm at 5:53 pm #614293Sam KleinParticipant
I am a very grateful & fortunate person to be able to appreciate life without taking it for granted. And that is why I cannot afford to waste even a moment of it without spending my time wisely. That’s why I need YOUR help & advice. I am addicted & have been spending approximately 2 hours a day reading the news. Being who I am, how can I get rid of this addiction (that I MUST read the news) I treat it just as bad as a smoking or drinking addiction that I need to remove as soon as possible so my life is not wasted & thrown away. PLEASE HELP ME
November 19, 2014 6:27 pm at 6:27 pm #1191610hashtagposterMember#Take away the time-wasting from it, Meaning, take a lesson out of it, and then it’s not only news, it’s a way of forging a connection with Hashem.
That’s what news is, things Hashem does… and He’s doing it for a reason.. try to figure out the lesson and apply it to yourself…
For example, about 2 weeks ago there was this guy in New Jersey that got killed… How?
He was talking to his friend near a construction sight, and a worker 50 stories above, dropped his tape-measure, and it landed on this guy’s head, killing him instantly..
I probably used this example in every class I gave since…
What are the odds???
There’s no such thing as odds… When someone’s time is up, it’s up!
There’s no running away from it…
It makes you stop and think, “do I know when my time is?”
“will I have something to show for myself after my time is up?”
and so on….
Telling you to stop looking at the news, is a very hard thing to say…
And, human nature is, wanting to be in the know…
try deriving lessons from it… thereby causing growth=not a waste of time..:)
B’hatzlacha!
November 19, 2014 10:05 pm at 10:05 pm #1191611yytzParticipantMake strict rules for yourself. For example, make it a rule never to check news websites at work. Also, you could limit yourself to 5 minutes a day of reading news. Perhaps give yourself one day a week where you can spend an hour reading news.
Most news reading is not necessary or useful at all. You’re right to be concerned about this. The book the Four Hour Work Week advocates cutting out news almost completely, in order to improve productivity.
November 20, 2014 1:26 pm at 1:26 pm #1191612chavi123Memberblock your news sites – my filter has an option to block all new/media sites. if you must read some news, you could block it for most of the day and just have access to it 15-30 mins a day or whatever you decide.. We actually set our filter (k9) to disallow web access from 10pm everynite – its’ great as I can’t waste too much time becsasue I know I have work to complete before the net ‘closes’ so I csn not waste time reading etc… good luck
November 21, 2014 12:54 am at 12:54 am #1191613Sam KleinParticipantto Chavi123
My computer is unable to get a filter, since it is a office computer-in my home-that needs access to all internet due to its need for the work I am involved in.
November 21, 2014 1:37 am at 1:37 am #1191614ivoryMemberThat’s scary!
November 21, 2014 1:41 am at 1:41 am #1191615JosephParticipantYour work doesn’t require access to news sites. So get a filter at home and set it to block news sites (and shmutz – something you should’ve have a filter all along for.)
November 21, 2014 4:09 am at 4:09 am #1191616Letakein GirlParticipantOr you could just get that Chaver program- I forget what it’s called… It emails a list of all the websites you visited to a person you choose every single day. Going near a computer without any accountability program is like aiming a gun at your neshama and handing it to an Arab terrorist!
Think about your eternity being ruined because you didn’t have patience to take care of this vital issue. If you have already stumbled and are having a hard time staying away from the shmutz that is so readily available online, please go to guardyoureyes.com.
November 21, 2014 5:13 pm at 5:13 pm #1191617PosterMemberSam Klein I wouldn’t worry as much about the addiction to news sites as I would worry about working on a non filtered computer.
November 23, 2014 2:45 am at 2:45 am #1191618RandomexMemberLeaving you aside for the moment, is your computer secure from children?
November 24, 2014 4:45 pm at 4:45 pm #1191619Sam KleinParticipantRandomex.
my computer in my office in my home is locked & never has any children coming in
November 24, 2014 6:22 pm at 6:22 pm #1191620Letakein GirlParticipantAnd you trust yourself with it?
There’s a chazal- ?? ????? ????? ?? ??? ????.
Translation: “don’t trust yourself till the day you die.”
November 24, 2014 7:45 pm at 7:45 pm #1191621lookingforsemMemberi also dont want to waste my life thats y i spend my time learning and studying:)
December 5, 2014 1:20 am at 1:20 am #1191622Sam KleinParticipantto Letakein Girl
my mission is to only use my internet for my NEEDS (i.e. email & to buy something or to listen to shiurim etc…)& not extras (i.e. tumahs…. & things that cause me to waste precious time)
I can honestly say that over the past 5 years the only thing (I consider) being done bad on the internet is this letter, WASTING TOO MUCH TIME READING THE NEWS when there are more important things to do with a persons precious time in life
December 5, 2014 1:46 am at 1:46 am #1191623Letakein GirlParticipantI admire your self control, in that case. Kein yirbu!
December 5, 2014 7:46 am at 7:46 am #1191624JosephParticipantGet a strong filter. Can’t stress that strongly enough even if you insist that you don’t need it and haven’t misused the ‘net. And even though this is a separate point from being a news junkie. (Although you can set the filter to block all news websites and let only someone else have the filter password.)
December 30, 2014 7:29 am at 7:29 am #1191625Sam KleinParticipantany other way to stop wasting so much time just reading the news? some people think you should read the news & know what happening in the world. But the honest truth is that is not an acceptable excuse to waste time cause if its a piece of news that you personally need to know then trust me YOU will find out someway or another without reading the news.
word of mouth with news spreads almost as fast as fire
December 30, 2014 3:50 pm at 3:50 pm #1191626Trust 789Membermy mission is to only use my internet for my NEEDS (i.e. email & to buy something or to listen to shiurim etc…)
Those don’t sound like needs. Just get rid of the internet altogether. And if possible, the computer too.
January 19, 2016 7:30 am at 7:30 am #1191627Mashiach AgentMemberbump
January 19, 2016 6:08 pm at 6:08 pm #1191628zahavasdadParticipantThere is plenty of reason to know about news. Lots of factors are out of your control but you need to know about them and how to react.
Many were really unaware about the Nazis and told people just to stay put when the Nazis came into their towns and villages
January 19, 2016 6:20 pm at 6:20 pm #1191629zahavasdadParticipantOn a more contemporary basis, I know people who ignored news about Hurricane Irene and Hurricane Sandy and after the Hurricane were in trouble
June 2, 2016 4:41 pm at 4:41 pm #1191630secretagentyidMemberAruch hashulchan holds one should read the news(I could hear a different reading of him, but at the very least he holds its muttar and no issue of moshav leitzim or the like)
June 2, 2016 5:09 pm at 5:09 pm #1191631JosephParticipantWhat is the maare makom that Aruch Hashulchan? What reason does he give to read the news?
June 2, 2016 7:44 pm at 7:44 pm #1191632secretagentyidMemberCan’t remember the exact woman, ??? maybe? It’s where the shulchan aruch talks about reading goyishe books.
IIRC(and it’s been about 6 months or so, and that was the first time I saw it, so I recommend you don’t rely on my quotation), he says that reading news which is going on now is (at least) ok, since it effects you and can make major differences to your life.
June 2, 2016 9:56 pm at 9:56 pm #1191633secretagentyidMemberAhem.
Siman, not woman.
June 3, 2016 1:44 am at 1:44 am #1191634wannabegood7Participantsam:
i have this timer on my internet. its an add-on thing that is activated whenever the internet is on. i had the same problem as you so when i saw how much time was really being spent on the news i got really scared. it showed an enormous amount of time being wasted on nourishkeitin so i quickly put a stop to it. whenever i wanted to look at the news i would think of the amt of time i spend wasting time and instead did something productive.
November 11, 2016 4:57 pm at 4:57 pm #1191635Mashiach AgentMembernow with elections over & Boruch Hashem for trump winning.
sadly i must have spent hours adding up into days worth of time of reading & watching videos of elections & political news since starting a year & a half ago at least.
what a waste of so much precious time. especially when the choice is up to Hashem who wins. ashamed of how i wasted so much time.
help me with suggestions on how to STOP WASTING TIME READING NEWS
November 14, 2016 1:37 am at 1:37 am #1191636LightbriteParticipantSam Klein: Dunno if this will work for you.
This works if I am online on my phone. Sometimes I start listening to a shiur while I’m browsing random sites. Eventually I cannot concentrate on what I am reading when I’m listening, so I end up going back to the shiur.
On good days I will even open up my email account and take notes on the shiur. Then I email the notes to myself, and sometimes my mom too (I <3 my mom). It’s nice because I just do it without forcing myself to stop surfing the internet. I just replace one activity with another.
Also maybe it would help to change the self-talk. IME, it doesn’t help me to feel ashamed and bad about my behavior. When I do something and feel ashamed, I can use that feeling as an indicator to alter my behavior. When I do that, then I tell myself that I am good. Granted I can get used to focusing on the solutions more often, but the good thing is that the more that I do this the easier it gets next time.
Oh, and tefilla helps too. Please Hashem help me spend my time _______ and help protect me from the evil inclination. Thank you Hashem for protecting me from the evil inclination…
Just some thoughts 🙂
November 14, 2016 2:49 am at 2:49 am #1191637Lilmod UlelamaidParticipantContribute to my Shmiras Halashon thread instead.
April 8, 2018 1:10 am at 1:10 am #1503345Sam KleinParticipantStill wasting over 3 hours a day on reading news on the internet. Besides weekly news magazines and newspapers. HELP ME stop wasting so much precious time of my life and instead spend my time more wisely. This is with me working full time.
April 8, 2018 1:37 am at 1:37 am #1503348GadolhadorahParticipantHey Sam….its not just you. A recent study a major journalism school found that the average college graduate was spending 18% more time on internet news sites since the Trumpkopf’s election. Surprisingly, the news sites with the longest “stickiness” (i.e. how long the viewer spent on the site) was Fox News, and not the “Fake” news sites such as CNN and MSNBC. The study did not consider aggregation sites such as YWN but only the primary sources.
April 8, 2018 1:59 am at 1:59 am #1503353oyyoyyoyParticipantMaybe its worth it to invest in a real therapist. Props for u call for help, takes courage.
Besides for whatever u do, gotta ask the above for helpApril 8, 2018 10:19 am at 10:19 am #1503433jdf007ParticipantBuy a newspaper, get a subscription.
You quickly learn which columnists don’t know what they’re talking about and which do. Now you will only focus on certain articles, instead of this internet reality where everything is believed just because it is online, with no reputation whatsoever.Second advantage, once you finish, you finish, and you got to pick and choose what was worth reading. Without instant 24/7 access online, and in paper form, once you’re done you’re done.
Third Advantage. I get to read so many more interesting things that the big google doesn’t consider “news”. All of those special interest stories, goofy things, and even LOCAL stuff. I point this out because, I can’t believe the amount of people who haven’t a clue what is going on anywhere at all, even at home, because their only outlet is the CNN website or otherwise. They’re clueless. The biggest local thing in the universe could happen, but it’s not national news, and an entire city doesn’t know of it.
Another problem with internet news, they all cut and paste from each other. There is no value-added, and a lot of it is quite trite. There is really no research, and on the net, and even in print, you get a lot of conflicting stories. Sometimes even on the same page if it’s not big publication.
Another way to get off being hooked on “news”? Watch these press conferences with the White House. If the top reporters have such low IQ’s, imagine the talent of the regular wire writers? Or even those “lectures” (as they should be called) on 60 minutes. That’ll cure you.
April 9, 2018 11:52 am at 11:52 am #1503943MonseyResidentParticipantThis issue, I find, is the biggest problem of the Internet. Once you get used to checking the news all the time, you will find that during work time you are distracted from the business/work at hand. Instead of looking at /creating your to-do list or delegating tasks, you are constantly checking the news.
The best way to handle this is to subscribe to new alerts/digests so you will be informed, but don’t need to be emotionally tied to the news. If there is a real business need to know about social media happenings, you can subscribe to services like Twilert, which let you set up custom instant notices that let you know what you need to know. Make specific times when you check the news, and the rest let the automated systems give you the news you need.
It’s a different life when you free yourself from this.
Hatzlocha!
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