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ד"סב
Narratives
true Authentic, Realistic & Undeniable
Inspirations challenge: the
and Real-Life Concerning our Volume
generation’s
battle against
technology 166

Call me Except that it wasn’t over and certainly not forgotten.
Mr. Naïve What can I tell you? All those speeches and warnings
Collateral Damage and I won’t about the power of technology? It’s all true. It played it-
self out, scene by torturous scene, in my life.
dispute
it.
It’s the most Within a short time, I was already asking Boruch, “So,
dignified ex- anything interesting out there? Tell me what’s up.”
planation I My meaningful glance in the direction of his iPad
can give for made it very clear what I was looking for. And Boruch
my awful experience. obliged. He showed and clicked and scrolled, giving me
It started almost a year ago, when my 17-year-old access to the worldwide web.
cousin approached me with questions and complaints. I “I’m going away for a couple of weeks,” Boruch told
was his successful, ehrliche relative learning in kollel me one morning. “Here, you can have the iPad until I get
for many years. I was the eloquent, Torah-versed cousin back.”
who could dig him out of his confusion. I didn’t even blink. I just took the device and stuck that
That’s what he thought. little pocket-sized Yetzer Hara into its cozy new home,
I was glad to help and spent many hours schmoozing right near my heart. I was hooked.
with Boruch about emunah; about what it means to be a I don’t know who hung up that sign in a small shul near
Yid, to serve Hashem without compromise. I expounded my home, but it saved my life. Literally.
on a topic, Boruch challenged me, and I sought more ref- I walked into shul a few weeks after the iPad lodged
erences to back up my claims. itself in my life, and I saw a cute little boy peeking out
We were going strong. from a life-sized poster. His chin was cupped in his two
I can’t pinpoint when the winds shifted. What was the pudgy hands and he looked despondent. Two sets of
first thing Boruch showed me on his nifty little device? It hands were noticeable, ostensibly those of his parents,
couldn’t have been anything terrible, just some interest- and they were twiddling their fingers over their phones’
ing tidbit that he thought would catch my attention. keypads.
It did. As did the next ‘tidbit’ and the next video clip, “If only I were a Smartphone,” I read the boy’s plain-
time after time. I didn’t think I was doing anything ques- tive thoughts. “Then they would hold me and play with
tionable, let alone wrong. It was all par for the course. me all day.”
Yet suddenly in my efforts to forge a solid relationship Ouch.
with Boruch, so that I could draw him closer to Yiddish- That boy was my son. Those hands on the keypad…
keit, I my self was going in the wrong direction. were my hands. Reality hit me in the face with such
“Hey, Mendy, you have to see this one,” Boruch would force that I nearly stumbled backward. With my eyes
chirp with his friendly manner. squinting painfully to keep the tears at bay, I grabbed the
I would quickly lean over, get a glimpse of the latest moment to do what I should have done months earlier.
and greatest, and the moment would be over and forgot- I got rid of the iPad.
ten. And I got my life and family back.

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