Tech Triumphs

from Baltimore Jewish Home - 1-19-23

In The Kitchen

An Unexpected Response

When I got married, we decided not to have internet in our home. As time went on, it became increasingly difficult to sustain that decision. My husband and I were in school at night and we both had flip phones with no internet. We would go to neighbors and family members to work, shop, or pay bills online and it was embarrassing how often we were bothering people to use their internet. We discussed the issue on and off and were starting to waver.

One day my father said something to me that had a tremendous impact. In my parents’ home, internet reigned free and everyone had constant access to whatever they wanted. After some chitchat, I mentioned to my father that we were considering getting internet in our house to avoid being bothering our friends and family so much. My father was silent for a moment, then he said with strong emotion, which was totally out of character for him, “Don’t do it! I beg you. I will get you anything you ever need to order, just call me and it’s yours, but never cave. I am so proud of how strong you are. Don’t ruin your life with the internet.”

I was honestly shocked. My father was not the type to be strong about exposure and filters. He watched tv freely and talked about all the shows he enjoyed regularly. My husband and I took my father’s advice and stuck to our decision. We will take his words to heart, because they came from his heart.

As told to Rebbetzin Sara Gross

Did you know?

Smartphone use started to become popular between the years of 2007 and 2013. Many of today’s children never lived in a world without technology as it is today. Only with this understanding can we fully comprehend the perspective of this generation. Their world is completely different from the world the adults of today were born into. If a child asks for updated tech, it’s to be expected. Once we recognize the norms of today’s children, we can temper our reactions appropriately.

To share a tech triumph or story of chizuk, please email Techtriumphs@tagbaltimore.org.

This is a service of TAG Baltimore. TAG Baltimore is an organization that provides technology awareness, education, and support. They can be reached at 410-449-1824 or help@ tagbaltimore.org.