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There are many people that have desire (ta'ava) for news - whether it's world, local, tech, social (facebook, twitter), etc. I'm trying to understand where that comes from.

Note: It's not specifically news, it could be email, etc. Just something that is not critical that I check but I keep going back to it. Also, I'm not talking about forbidden news (lashon hara, immoral subject, etc), just the desire to keep what might otherwise be reasonable for me to read, but the need to check it more often than is reasonable.

Is it just a yetzer ha'ra for bitul zman/Torah or something else?

Yehosef
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  • Curiosity [...] – mevaqesh May 23 '17 at 13:31
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    What is a fallen desire? – mevaqesh May 23 '17 at 13:35
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    Why the downvote? – Yehosef May 23 '17 at 14:11
  • @mevaqesh - fallen desire refers to something that it holy in its root, but is realized through some aspect of that concept in a lower/base way. You can read about an example here: http://www.breslev.co.il/articles/spirituality_and_faith/spiritual_growth/ratzon__the_power_of_desire.aspx?id=10173&language=english – Yehosef May 23 '17 at 14:15
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    Clarifications should be included in the post itself. – mevaqesh May 23 '17 at 14:27
  • And then you'll reverse the downvote? – Yehosef May 23 '17 at 14:29
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    In general for a user to see your comments, you should include his/her username in the comment with a @ in front of it, like @mevaqesh. I can't reverse the downvote, since I wasn't the voter. Regardless, editing sources in is a proper form. – mevaqesh May 23 '17 at 14:38
  • What type of news? Gossip is a problem; Lashon Hara is probably a bigger problem. But, if the news is like "Shabbat starts at xx:xx, and, oh, in case you didn't know ... the eruv is down, today. Good Shabbes." Ummm ... wouldn't you like to know this type of "news"? – DanF May 23 '17 at 16:23
  • I'm really not following how the answers below are good, considering the vagueness of this question. It implies that the entire list of "news", including what OP said - "world, local, tech" is bad. Besides the example in my previous comment which is "local" news, if Mashiach arrived in Yerushalayim and you lived in Kalamazoo, that qualifies as "world" news b/c it's somewhere else in the world than where you are. Should you not know about this? OP needs to clarify what he means and the implication that all types of news is bad. – DanF May 23 '17 at 20:36
  • @DanF - where did I say or imply the news is "bad"? And I'm not talking about news you actually need - but the excessive "need" to check. Maybe there is a new story.. something else happened. It could even be email. If you don't relate to it - ashreicha. – Yehosef May 23 '17 at 20:58
  • @mevaqesh - I'm sorry for being choshed b'kasherim. I'll try to expand the details of the question a bit to make it more clear. In general, I don't like overly wordy questions - our attention spans are so weak these days. – Yehosef May 23 '17 at 21:04
  • Even just editing in a link to explain what you mean by fallen desire would greatly improve the post. – mevaqesh May 23 '17 at 21:05
  • You should clarify things in the question, not via comments. Answers are meant to answer your question, not the comments. – DanF May 23 '17 at 21:38
  • post edited to clarify – Yehosef Jun 01 '17 at 16:15

2 Answers2

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Rav Kalonymous Kalman Shapira, the Rebbe of Piaseczna remarked in his journal (published as Tzav v'Ziruz which can be found in the back of his second sefer on chinuch Hachsharas Avreichim) that:

The human soul relishes sensation, not only if it is a pleasant feeling but for the very experience of stimulation. Sooner sadness or some deep pain rather than the boredom of non-stimulation. People will watch distressing scenes and listen to heartrending stories just to get stimulation. Such is human nature and a need of the soul, just like all its other needs and natures; so he who is clever will fulfill this need with passionate prayer and Torah learning. But the soul whose divine service is without emotion will have to find its stimulation elsewhere: It will either be driven to cheap, even forbidden, sensation or will become emotionally ill from lack of stimulation.

The Rebbe is describing a psychological/spiritual phenomenon which he presents as axiomatic. Its intent is presumably to be used in service of God but if not satisfied in a healthy way will necessarily be drawn to frivolous and even harmful matters.

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Shmuel Brown
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I heard a shiur from Rabbi Nissan Kaplan where he describes this as a yetzer hara of thinking "this is my world", therefore "I need to know what's happenning in my world".

see also Zohar Nasso 126 (my translation):

"A man walks in this world and he thinks that it will be his forever, and that he will remain in it for all time"

ray
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