Major Jewish news sites were my go-to. Every day, I would check the news and keep myself up to date on politics and Jewish news locally and in Israel. Whatever the news that day, the same two things were happening each day.

One, I would get a daily dose of sadness and worry from all the pain and suffering in Klal Yisroel and the antisemitism around the world, and two, I would harden my heart to avoid the pain affecting me too much. In essence, it was doing me no good.

I decided to stop checking the news. I erased the app from my phone, and my heart was lighter. Whenever something important popped up in the news, I would inevitably hear it from family and friends anyway, so I was never ignorant of the vital news, but I was shielded from the daily dose of sadness or callousness at pain.

One day, I got an email about a local tragedy and felt terrible. I gave in to the temptation of wanting to know more about it and went to check the details on news sites. Because I was unaccustomed to seeing the news, I was extra sensitive.

I found out the sad details, then continued to scroll down and see what else was new. I clicked on a story about an unfortunate fire in Israel. The gory details were so unnecessary to share, and my heart broke. I was angry that the site deliberately shared horrors to sensationalize the story and sicken the readers. The privacy of the family in the fire was violated, and the last moments of their child’s life were turned into a public affair.

From then on, no matter how curious I am, I will not go check for more information. I will find out what I need to know, but it wasn’t worth it.