Why is it that many Orthodox Jewish families are against modern day technology in their home like TV's or cellphones, computers, etc. I never really understood that, perhaps someone can explain? I would imagine that it would make life a bit more difficult?
Everything Shlomo said, and about cell phones I dont understand where you got that from? Almost all people have cell phones now a days, and I dont think that it was that much of a problem, unless one has access to dirty pictures in them. About internet the Rabbis had to say not to use it, because their are also many problems in it. For example access to pornography, facebook, myspace and other things like that. Even though their are porn filters, and everyone should have one, as we say expecialy these couple of days unfortunatly still dirty pictures have gone through somehow. Also many problems for the world as a whole with myspace yourface. And on top of that married men and women "chatting" with other men and women (opposite gender) and soo many problems can and have arisen- like for example a married women falling in love with another guy she meet in facebook. Not to mention expecialy the children (potentially) getting exposed to all the sins at once in one place.
I guess I can understand that, but do we really need a safety net to tell us what's right and wrong on the internet? The internet really isnt all the different from the real world. You have these adult sites, yes, but just like in the real world (including Israel), there are smutty areas with porn and nudity, so a person should know better not to access these.
My first computer I obtained when I was 3 years old, my father built it for me and it cost well over the 5,000 dollar mark. I grew up on DOS and learned how to type at a very young age, as a result, I type faster than the average person and have memorized the keys (if I was blind, I could still type). Yes I admit I did get involved in some bad things online (learning about hacking, pornography, piracy), over time, much of my efforts became for good use, protecting people from hackers and running a successful business. Yes while it is bad that men can cheat on their wives or vice versa with facebook, the same can also apply online. I have been lucky to meet people online that I otherwise would have never met.
I would never have landed the job I have today if I didn't have the knowledge of computers and was sheltered from them, much of my life revolves around computers.
In many ways, the internet has just made things easier, it has made the world seem like a smaller place and has made independent research available. I have learned more online about history, science, religion, and technology in a period of a day than I have during a whole semester of public school.
We have to remember, the internet is just a tool nearly unregulated made up of independent sources and people, it's also made up of many folks who want censorship and control (Nazis, Fascists, Communists, Authoritarians). We don't want to end up like China or the Arab countries which censor many sites because of propaganda for the "good of the people."
I hope people understand where I am coming from? Yes sites like StørmFrønt are a problem, but you have to remember, ignorance and pretending something doesn't exist does not make the problem go away. It's equivalent to one sticking their head in the sand and pretending everythings ok.
While I completely understand the Orthodox Jewish community not wanting Jews to get involved with internet because of the exposure to anti-semitic websites and brainwashing, we can't pretend we are the bubble boy and that nothing else exists outside of it. In a way, freedom of speech is a double edged sword, you have the Nazis in Germany where the swastika is banned and denial of the holocaust is outlawed, but what has it done? Its just moved Nazi groups underground. People get too comfortable with their rights and start spouting to kill and murder a person, they've just been exposed.
I feel the internet is a valuable tool and we should continue to use it for educational purposes of our cause.
You can only shelter people for so long, but eventually they discover it, be it on their own or not. I knew one of the most religious families in our area, very very strict on what their children could watch. Eventually this influence worked in reverse on the children and they became involved in partying, drinking, drugs, sex, you name it. That's not to say all kids are like this, but it seems rather weird that children are rebellious to their parents like this, maybe this is part of our culture today, I don't know.
Topic: Orthodox Judaism and technology (Read 2521 times)