Rebbetzin Leah Lieff has been in the IT industry, servicing financial services, for over 40 years, and is currently a senior VP in a bank. Her husband is the rosh yeshivah of Yeshiva Gedolah of South Monsey.

I applaud you, as you’re facing head-on a challenge many people struggle with. You recognize this nisayon and you’re willing to deal with it. I must admit that I’m not sure I understand why Internet education is integral to your future position. Typically, a nurse will have plenty of on-the-job training opportunities.

However, if, as you insist, your future work, or perhaps furthering your education is indeed contingent upon the Internet as a core requirement, you may want to defer this route or even reconsider this entirely.

The Internet poses multiple threats. Even if a site may be appropriate in nature, considering its relevance to one’s job, there’s always the issue of wasted time. As you admit, you struggle with wasting time online — this cannot be ignored.

I’d suggest you consider building barriers to protect yourself from this challenge even in your current situation. Your question of “Can I have one without destroying the other?” has an unfortunate but short answer: No. You can’t expect to have a kedushadig life without imposing the restrictions necessary to keep yourself and the time spent online in check. The more time we spend on the Internet, the greater the chance for regret.

Here are some practical pointers to help yourself in your current situation: If there’s a clip or instructional video that’s crucial for learning, you can access the site while either in school, or in a library, or your place of work.  If you limit where you can access these videos, you’ll have less freedom to spend accessing innocuous sites that waste your time.

If these alternate locations aren’t an available option, consider installing a stronger filter on your own device restricting visits to YouTube. These types of filters work best when they’re managed by a third party. When such a filter is added, any access to a YouTube site would require Help Desk support from a third party to remove the filter. Each request requires that the third party evaluate the site. This acts as a deterrent, as initially all YouTube videos will be blocked and thereby contribute to a frustrating Internet experience, preventing your daily life from revolving around the Internet.

Over time, you’ll get used to these safeguards and will no longer rationalize the need for spending time watching medical videos that aren’t critical to a job, essentially weaning yourself off this fix. Wishing you much hatzlachah in succeeding in this area and in your future endeavors.

Chassi Bienstock BSN, is a recent graduate of Georgian Court University. She’s currently working in home care and continuing her degree as a Nurse Practitioner in graduate school.

Before answering your question, I spoke with several of my friends who’ve also graduated nursing school, many of whom are working in hospitals. I wanted to make sure that my response wouldn’t be based on my personal experience, but on the experiences of many who are dealing with the same issues you’re facing.

Based on these conversations, it’s clear that there are those students to whom YouTube videos and tutorials are considered critical for aid in studying, mnemonics, visual aids, and more. However, there were an equal number who didn’t utilize this type of assistance, instead relying on stellar class attendance, efficient note-taking, reading the textbooks, and group reviews. Those in this second group managed just as well as those in the former.

It’s clear that your dilemma regarding videos isn’t limited to those attending nursing school. Regardless of what you’re studying, if you are in college or even high school, there will always be students who rely heavily on these aides regardless of their field of study. Yet it’s also clear that people determined not to utilize this type of assistance can and do excel in their fields.

When I was in seminary in Eretz Yisrael, a well-respected rebbetzin tried to dissuade me from my future plans of entering nursing school. “There’s no way you’ll finish nursing school without a smartphone,” she warned me.

I’m the type who can’t back down from a challenge, and it’s with pride that I did recently graduate without a smartphone. What, then, did I use to help myself with the heavy study load? Several of us would take detailed notes in class and before a test, upload them onto one Google document. This way, we were able to study with the benefit of peer reviews and compilations. The professors would also show slides in the classroom that were very instructive.

Although I attended an all-female class as arranged through the New Seminary, our professors were the same as those in the regular university. There was never a teacher who insisted that we must study on our own via You Tube clips. It was simply a personal choice, and reading the textbook together with class participation did the trick just as well for me.

Even post-college, now that we’re all working, I contacted several friends who are working in hospitals. Hospitals will never demand you continue your education via YouTube instructional clips. Instead, they may send out videos that are generated in the hospital and require no Internet surfing.

I’ve found a personal mentor within my workplace to be essential in developing my career. Any beginning nurse needs hands-on training and having someone live within your department cannot compare to a generic short clip that doesn’t take into account on-site job requirements and policies.

It’s clear from your question that you’re grappling with the values you want to continue to strengthen and incorporate in your life both now and in the future. I hope I’ve clarified that upholding these values is possible even in your chosen field, and I want to wish you much hatzlachah in your studies both now and post-college.

(Originally featured in Family First, Issue 780)