For Children

2020 issue is more recent. It contains articles such as This Is Your Brian on Tech and Growing Up Wired. The sidebars are Taming Our Tech, Tribal Tech and A Pediatrician’s Guide to Screen Time.

Parents should read a Washington Post article, Melinda Gates: I spent my career in technology. I wasn’t prepared for its

effect on my kids. washingtonpost.com/ news/parenting/wp/2017/08/24/melindagates-i-spent-my-career-in-technology-iwasnt-prepared-for-its-effect-on-my-kids

Randi Zuckerberg wrote two books that are especially relevant. For adults--Dot Complicated: How to Make It Through Life Online in One Piece by Transworld Publishing Limited. For children—see below. television series by Universal Kids. Good Night, iPad, by Ann Droyd. You may purchase the book or google a few read-aloud versions, based on Good Night, Moon You have the final word—you will decide if you will make any changes in your life. You can follow Tiffany’s idea of a Technology Shabbat or unplug in some other way, such as with Catherine Price’s or Tommy Sobel’s method. Or you can keep to your status quo. Above, I mention how Arthur Green shortened the whole idea into “Visit people, not websites.” I just found another slogan. Arthur Brooks (The Atlantic, October 22, 2020) writes that though even the lowest economic quintile of people in our country have more income and consumer goods, no one (upper-, middle- or lower-class) feels any happier. There has been “a long-term gradual Two recent popular screen-based warnings against screen-based culture are Screenagers (great for teens and their parents) and The Social Dilemma. The latter can be found on Netflix.

If you think all of these resources are great, but they are far too tame to deal with your hard-core affliction, you may want to turn to Dr. David Greenfield and the Center for Internet and Technology Addiction (CITA). He has treated patients from every corner of the US regarding issues of video gaming, video porn, and

Dot., a book by Randi Zuckerberg, (Harper Collins), and a

tech dependency and abuse. virtual-addiction.com As mentioned above, PJ Library and PJ Our Way are great resources for monthly books of Jewish content. Please contact Lyndsey Ursillo at the Jewish Alliance

for free subscriptions. lursillo@jewishallianceri.org or

401.421.4111. decline in happiness” from 1988 to the present. Whether it is our capitalist society or socialism, we would still be in the same state of unhappiness. The tech revolution was supposed to provide “everything you want at the click of a mouse.” However, consumerism, government and technology will “never satisfy.” He believes that the world encourages us to “love things and use people.” Instead, he advises that we “put this on your fridge and try to live by it: Love people; use things.” I believe that is the true message of those who unplug, and of Shabbat itself. However, they don’t believe that putting a slogan on the fridge is sufficient. You must make it an active part of your life, and unplugging is the key to doing that.