Reply To: Clarification to mod and DaMoshe

Arso,

“ (If I didn’t believe that CS is an honest, but misguided, woman, I would suspect that she wrote so much just to shut me up. But I don’t think she did.) ”

Appreciated, just was responding to the posts I missed that week:)

“ Perhaps you would care to explain how a “child can have a proper chinuch” if he has an unfiltered smartphone. Could you be mechanech a child while he is in a church praying to osoi ho’ish?”

Giving a child a smart phone that isn’t filtered or supervised is like giving him a gun. We treat this issue very seriously but every family ultimately makes their choices. I have a low level filter on my phone (otherwise I couldn’t do what I needed to), but my kids only get my phone for Tzivos Hashem missions (supervised), or to play music from Torah box when it’s locked. I am looking to upgrade my filters though, and we have an appointment with tag. I have a friend who has chosen not to have a smartphone or WhatsApp at all, which is rare with the younger generation (more common with those older.) but yes, of course a smart phone is dangerous, and we need to be aware and protect.

I do think it’s different than tv, because tv is only for entertainment purposes and there’s really no justification for it. Whereas a smartphone is very utilitarian, and there are many ways to help oneself keep it to that. Like focus mode. Also, I generally stay away from you tube and Spotify (except ad free podcasts) due to ads, but now I’ve discovered 613tube so I can gain from you tube without the garbage. I’ve chosen chrome over other browsers for my Internet on my laptop, so I have a clean page to work with. Etc etc. But this is all my personal choice, and the Rebbetzin of my community and I were just discussing today how to create awareness and education in the general community and high school girls, because, as she said, it’s not enough that ani es nafshi hitzalti.

This is a relatively new thing, and now the yeshivos are educating about it (for later on), and people are learning and discovering for themselves.