gofish:
Banning isn’t working. The internet is a keli with so many functions – both good and bad – and a completely different animal than historic challenges.
Meh. The same speech could have been given about TV thirty years ago.
Instead of chasing after an endless cycle of banning, banning new things, banning newer things, which rov am isn’t listening to anyway – how about teaching about boundaries? And how to use technology appropriately as mentchen?
I have some shocking news – most (litvishe) Rabbonim *aren’t* issuing blanket bans on the internet. They are stressing the absolute necessity of having a filter, and of making sure one’s life and the lives of one’s children are not taken over by empty nonsense.
dovrosenbaum:
If a person wants to access inappropriate images, or speak lashon hara, they’ll find ways to do it, phone or no phone.
I think it is imperative to take a little bit of a more nuanced view on this particular subject. Most people are neither a tzaddik gamur nor a rasha gamur; so to speak of people who always, without exception, do or don’t want to do aveiros is far-fetched at best. Most people try to what is right, but if they find themselves in a situation where they are faced with a significant enough temptation (everyone on their level), they will succumb to it. This is why Chazal set up various gedarim (in particular with regards to arayos, which the Gemara tells us “nafsho shel adam mechamdasam, the nature of a person strongly desires”) to ensure that a person does not end up in a situation of overwhelming temptation; the issurim of yichud, harchakos niddah, and kol bi’isha erva in particular come to mind. We try to avoid putting ourselves in situations of temptation and nisayon as much as possible; I don’t see why here should be any different.