hello everbody,
i like the name of this category" what works for me, because there is an opportunity to write about true experiences that already was, without the great unknown future being a factor.
having said that i want to tell the oilam, what i have learnt and what i feel about movies ie. watching for entertainment any kind of show which involves acting. ( i mean to exclude nature and science shows- to some extent.
absolute poison. clouds the mind. pumps the imaginations. wastes time. destroys true emotions. kindles lust (oh so gently), makes the fantasy real, makes real fantasy.
makes you oiver a whole bunch of issurim, which does tend to push away siatta dishmaya which we need so desparately. how on earth are you suppose to concentrate on any good thing, let alone a tosafos or a shmona esrei, with "stuff" flying through your mind. i know we need outlets, but there gotta be things that are exactly that outlets, not inlets, healthy stuff, and the way to tell is by seeing if they disturb you when you are trying to focus on doing important things.
i haven't seen youtube for a month and i feel a different person.
can you relate?

yes I can relate!

The first thing I did when I started taking control over myself was stop going on youtube even for so to say "kosher" clips. they are a total recipe for disaster!

Mega dittos to all of the above, Rush- I mean Lavie/Misgaber.

I see it as a strong compulsion.

Meaning, because it takes us into a 'real' fake world, it's so exciting, so a good way to fill my void (avoiding my real world).

So it joins the many compulsions that I think I would consider myself at one point having been addicted to on a certain level.
But it's one the biggies, that's for sure. And I also found it to be a good opening for the Yetzer Hara- you know because it's 'not that bad', then היום אומר לך עשה כך, מחר אומר.....

Actually, I once heard an audio (ironically, online, of course!) of the Satmar Rebbe R' Aaron making the same point about internet in general. VERY kidai to listen to if you speak Yiddish. He spells it out in a way i never heard.
( But I digress- oops)

As most of you know, I couldn't agree more!!

Youtube's outa the qvestion, even nice movies like Ice age, Avengers, Mosters, etc. which have very very little sexually triggering content, are still a way of me escaping this world, escaping my emotions. If I'm escaping my emotions then I'm already in danger, it's a simple equation. I can't sit and watch movies all day, so what's gonna happen when the movie's gone and the emotion starts coming back? I'm gonna look for something else!!

BH, I've been clean from movie's for a few weeks!

May Hashem grant us all a sane, accepting, courageous, and wise day!!

hi guys (or is hi gyes?)
if you don't mind i will go a little deeper, once after i watched a particular action packed and emotionally moving movie (no, that's not why they called it movie, the only thing they want to move, is more money in their pocket), and it had a moral too (they do that to convince you that they have some kind of conscious, any buyers?), i was thinking "what an inspiration!" and "what a thrill" "gadlus", and i remember asking myself "where is this beauty in real life"? why can't i feel this somehow in my everyday life? every emotion is supposed to have an expression somewhere in life (deep). after many movies and after being clean for a month, i found my answer. i found parts of life, that if i put the necessary preparation into certain good deeds, i found beauty and inspiration and even thrills. But with two differences. one, to get them, i have to put in a lot of effort, they didn't just hit me between the eyes. two, they don't leave you the empty aftertaste of a movie, they leave you a sweet taste of victory and knowing you have done the right thing.
it isn't important exactly where i found them. but i think there is a lesson here. we are seekers. and we seek forfillment. and yes, we need beauty inspiration and thrills too! we just have to know where to get the good ones ( did i say just?")
this seems to me a fact of life. we owe it to ourselves to be happy

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The good thing about working on an urge to press a link for a movie is that you moved your battle ground forward further into enemy territory. If the battle is there and you lose, you still have another battle that you can win. If watching movies are regular than you are only one battle away from the danger zone.



Amen

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That's great! I totally agree that movies are a big no no. For me they fuel my imagination with images to then be used for other fantasies. It uses the idea that what's in your mind, the fantasy, is real. It removes us from what's truly reality.

I too found this Tisha B'Av to have been the most clean and in many ways the most full of repentance and desire to end Sinat Chinam in years.

I watched Holocaust movies on Tisha B'Av.

Very mindful of the situation we find ourselves in and Europe's growing public Antisemitism, I realized how important it is to see each other in a favorable light.

I second the notion!!

This Tisha B'av I was intent on not escaping!! Every year I would dive into movies, even of the holocaust, to escape from what I thought I couldn't handle. This year I was able to take it minute by minute, talk about what we're going through with a friend, and actually think about the day!!

It was a great feeling!! Thank You Hashem!!

Movies ( especially trailers) and TV are triggers which you have to learn to avoid. I am a baseball and football fan, and strongly considering giving football because of the commercials and sideline shots of cheerleaders .

that's amazing gevura!! i know for me it can sometimes be hard to keep my personal ban on movies, but it's 100% worth it!

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