As you can see, if you scroll all the way down, of the 32 people who voted, 25 believed that the Internet should be available in frum homes with supervision of those under 18. What this brought to my mind was the issue of supervision. How are parents going to supervise their children who use the Internet if they, themselves, are poorly trained to use it? You can't teach someone to drive if you don't drive yourself. The level of instruction in high school on using computers seems to be limited to word processing, in the girls high schools, and is not there at all in many of the boys high schools. Like every other piece of technology available today, there are both plusses and minuses to the Internet.
The Internet is fast becoming an excellent tool of research, a tool of information. What is needed is better training in evaluating the various sources available as to their veracity and trustworthiness. If we truly believe that the Internet should be present in frum homes then we need to hold schools responsible for better computer instruction, and we need to become proficient in "finding the gold" and eliminating the "dross."
Interesting that 2 people should say that the Internet does not belong in frum homes, and yet somehow had the Internet available to vote in the poll.
Also of interest were the 5 votes for the Internet in the frum home only being used for business. Even with the Lakewood ban on the Internet, they had to realize that a complete ban was both impossible and impractical. Computers are an entrenched part of any working environment, and using the Internet is a requirement for most jobs today. A number of young married Lakewood women work for my husband's company. They only have to come in to New York a few days a week; the other days they remain at home and telecommute. Thus, the Internet provides a solution to the problem of working mothers--they are working but also available to their children during daytime hours. Again, if this option is to remain open for young women, and young men, better training is necessary on the high school level.
At least for the readers of this blog, the Internet is here to stay. The question now seems to be how well we will use it.
4 comments:
I imagine the fact that the poll was online would skew the data a drop. ;-)
But while some people seem to muddle along without access, others of us require it as a necessity somewhere after breathing and eating, but before clothing...
[sitting in pajamas at computer]
OK, not that bad, but it would be much harder to find out information without it. People who don't have internet either know many people who know things, or are content to live in blissful ignorance.
My parents won't have the internet in our house so whenever we need to use it for something for school or work we have to find someone else who does have it and that is fine by them. They even call me at work to look things up on the internet for them. It's kosher as long as it's not in our house. I'd rather be honest about it and I'm going to have the internet in my home when I get married. Still another thing that could cause a problem for shidduchim.
My parents won't let us have the internet and they tell us it's because it's treif but I think that the real reason is because they don't know how to use computers very well. My mom can't even turn on our computer and my dad is not too much better. I don't think they want us to have something they can't understand and so they can't control it. I think they would be really shocked about how many kids whose parents forbid the internet get right on it at school or work. It seems like a generation thing, where the older generation is still trying to hold on to some control. I wonder what my children are going to have that I won't know to much about?
Ahem, perhaps I could point out that I am quite old enough to be some of my reader's mother and yes, grandmother as well. I'll agree that sometimes the ban on the Internet is because of age and more likely because of lack of knowledge. Yet, please keep in mind that some of us "oldies" are quite adept at using the Internet. When my 85 year old mother comes to visit me we always include a session on the Internet--she loves it. I do the navigating and she gets the pleasure. You should have seen her face when we discovered the passenger manifest for the ship that brought her to America.
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