Very Connected

From an email received regarding a recent post:

Rebbe mentioned that if people leave their devices at home they will have menuchas hanefesh.

Respectfully i would like to present the other-side of the argument, which i believe probably reflects the reality of most people. (Chas V'Shalom am i claiming to know more than you, I'm just much more osek in the world of "devices" than Rebbe is seeing as i have a fancy one and almost everyone i know has fancy ones as well).

I think the best analogy is the concept of aduk bo tuva that we find by an aveirah. If someone is soo connected to a certain sin that it becomes his life-force, to the extent that he is potentially a kofer because he relies on something other than Hakadosh Baruch Hu so much, separation can be catastrophic. The first shiur i ever heard from Rebbe was about Teshuva and none other than Rav Elazar Ben Durdayah. His teshuva involved his soul leaving him. I saw Rav Hutner explain it was because his chiyus was tied into the sin so much that removing the sin meant taking his life.

Now i don't think that most people are thattttt connected to their Iphones and Blackberrys but i do feel that they are somewhere close to that. It is so much a part of them (i should say us in honesty) that on Shabbos one can feel a "phantom" vibrate in our pockets. When one leaves the house or finishes a minyan or wakes up they must immediately check their device. It is part of their (our) lives.

Ad kdai Kach that if they were to try to quit cold turkey it could be dangerous. The individual can have anxiety attacks. They will keep thinking back to it. They wouldn't appreciate the beauty of "unplugging" because they would be so focused on getting "replugged".

Just my 2 cents. Hope i didn't overstep any boundaries by responding with my haaros. I'm not a maan daamar but unfortunately i do have experience in this area.

However, i believe your point stands true for the other examples (although if people were as addicted to them as they are to their phones i would probably change my opinion).

End of email.

I am curious if other people feel the same way....