The inevitable role technology will continue to play in our lives and exploring how to both protect against its dangers and fully utilize its benefits. A denial of reality will only lead to misguided responses, outdated strategies and squandered opportunities, as we continue to fight yesterday’s battles without addressing today’s urgent needs. The power of technology is not in gizmos and gadgets, but in the fundamental restructuring of social patterns and the opportunities it provides for us to serve our community in vastly more effective ways....

 

Dr. Yitzchak Schechter

Breathing Life into the Golem of Technology

 

It is both obvious and an understatement to say that technology permeates every aspect of our lives. It is equally clear to me that in order for our community to continue its development, creativity, growth and the deepening of our religious and communal life we need not only to be conscious of technology but to embrace it in all its forms. While this may sound contrary to the reigning religious oeuvre of today, it is far from it. We all fly in airplanes, get medical procedures, use the telephone, use timers for electricity, drive cars and benefit from technology despite the great fears and potential prohibitions that were first cast on these emerging technologies. This is already playing out the same way with the Internet and new technologies we use for our work, household management and even learning.

This next wave of technology is no different; our job is to somehow arrive at the new normal and adjust to that equilibrium. Since technology is here to stay, we must attempt to understand the role it now plays in our lives – including its effect on our psychological functioning and on our families and relationships – and the change it has brought to our communities and to our society. The future religious stability and growth of our community is dependent upon our acknowledging the inevitable role of technology and exploring how to both protect against its dangers and fully utilize its benefits. A denial of reality will only lead to misguided responses, outdated strategies and squandered opportunities, as we continue to fight yesterday’s battles without addressing today’s urgent needs. Similarly, as often happens with topics that appear too big to address, the impulse is to avoid or deny the issue completely, with a net effect of reduced parental, educational and clinical involvement. This result has already been observed in some of the “digital life” research conducted by the Institute for Applied Research and Community Collaboration (ARCC, a group under my direction), which found that children report less adult guidance about their use of technology and social media than expected, even in communities that place great value on internet safety.

This article explores how individuals, families and communities can safely and effectively embrace technology as a powerful and positive tool that can be effectively employed with creativity and vision for the benefit of both individuals and the community. I write this at the intersection of my role as a psychologist and director of a large behavioral health clinic, serving yeshivas, parents, rabbonim and the community, and as the founding director of ARCC, a research organization dedicated to understanding the experience of the frum community and using technology and science to inform and provide actionable guidance to its community stakeholders.

A New Era

It is far from hollow rhetoric to say that we stand at the threshold, or, perhaps just inside the doorway, of a new era, in which technology has created a new metzius (reality). It must be emphasized that the power of technology is not in gizmos and gadgets. It is in the fundamental restructuring of social patterns it has brought about and the opportunities it provides to be mechadesh (innovate) in powerful new ways, potentially revolutionizing our approach to what can be accomplished – both in learning about the true needs of the klal and in developing strategies to meet those needs....

Changes in technology and society are happening at an increasingly fast clip. Our community must take note of the impact of these changes on even the most basic of concerns as how to guide our children in preparing to earn a livelihood. Technology has caused the elimination of not only jobs, but even of entire industries. Skill sets once integral are replaced by others, and training for the contemporary needs of the workforce must continually be studied. Is the community’s educational system adjusting to the challenges of the future workforce?

In considering the many dimensions of the great opportunities and challenges we face with technology, there is one principle we must keep in mind if our children are going to benefit from any wisdom we might hope to acquire and transmit: Are we leading by example? Here, perhaps more than any other area, children are entirely dependent on the messages they receive and behaviors they observe in the adults in their lives if they are to find their own way in managing the unyielding demands of the various devices around them. If their parents are not managing well, with strength and direction, how will they fare and with which strength will they cope? “Do as I say, not as I do” is a failed message in any context, but experience indicates it is even worse when it comes to technology. In fact, in our study of technology in yeshiva students, we found that parents are far and away the largest single source of information and guidance regarding the Internet and technology, yet only a small percentage of students report their parents speaking to them directly, or providing any guidelines, about technology and its use.

WORTH READING IN ITS ENTIRETY:

For the entire issue, visit www.klalperspectives.org.