People often say that the Internet has good and has bad and one should avoid the bad and take advantage of the good. So much Torah!! So many sites that enhance our lives both in spirit and body. That of course is true but I would like to repeat what I have said in the past.
Educationally - it is DESTROYING our youth. Boys [and I assume girls as well] in the Modern Orthodox yeshivos walk around ALL DAY AND ALL NIGHT with their phones in hand or pocket. They can't focus on anything else. I do not exaggerate. I watch it. Allllllllll the time. Simply - addicted. In the Beis Medrash, during davening, meal time - it matters not. The are typing, touching and scrolling almost non-stop. [In the more traditional yeshivos, a boy caught with one of these machines is expelled.... Many yeshivos don't even allow their students to carry a kosher phone without Internet or texting].
Gedolei Yisroel - ALL GEDOLEI YISROEL, have forbidden unlimited access to Internet. In the US it is rare to find an otherwise frum Jew without a smartphone. That is a battle we cannot win. People need it for their work and all of the issurim and gedarim will not change people's behavior.
But kids???!!
Why does EVERY 18-19 year old kid need that destructive machine. Besides all of the issurim [the other day I made up to learn Tanya with a boy and he didn't show up. He later explained that he was watching gilui arayos, shfichus domim, nivul peh, and other soul burning presentations (he called it a "movie") on his phone. Rachmana litzlan] that it causes, it is also the greatest, mammoth waste of time possible.
I am at a loss as to what to do to stop this. So I present to everyone a plea to take these כלי משחית out of the hands of our children.
I may add that I even know rabbis who are constantly busy with their toys. A bushah and cherpah.
Let's help our kids and stop the pollution:-).
