Area Teens Making the Most of Technology During a Pandemic

Charlotte Jewish News May 2021

By Shayla Siegel

Believe it or not, the last thing I want to do right now is anything on a screen. But because of the pandemic, I have no choice. Over the past year, technology has been the only way I could live my life. It was the only way I could go to school, the only way I could socialize with friends, the only way to attend Shabbat and High Holy Day services, and the only way I could lead and participate in one of my favorite things — youth group events.

For the past two years, I have held a position on the Leadership Board of Temple Beth El’s youth group, LIBERTY — first as a member at large, then as communications vice president. I love participating in events and being part of a group that helps other teens feel closer to Judaism. When the pandemic hit, the board and I were hopeful that we could continue to host in-person events and programs, such as our annual Purim Prom, but we quickly realized that this would not be the case. We ended up postponing and later canceled all in-person events. As the board and our advisor, Caleb Seidler, began to plan virtual events for the teens of Temple Beth El, we noticed a rapid decrease in attendance and participation. Because of all of the time teens were already spending on Zoom for school, services, and other activities, it was a lot to ask of people to voluntarily attend another virtual event. The only way to communicate was through technology, but after time, even that gets boring.

This “Zoom fatigue” was what made us realize that we had to find new and innovative ways to hold events that would be interesting and fun, even if we had to be on Zoom for part of it. In October of 2020, we held a drive-by event at Temple Beth El. Teens were invited to drive by the temple and pick up goodie bags of treats, keychains, and information about LIBERTY. That afternoon, participants came on a brief Zoom call where we met new people and played Kahoots and other online games to get to know each other better.

This new world has made it challenging to get teens to come to virtual events, but holding programs on the computer does have a few benefits. In December, LIB- ERTY held a game day on Zoom. We let participants choose from a variety of games to play, and we had a blast playing everything from Jeopardy! to AmongUs, a popular role-playing game. Although staying on screens wasn’t our first choice of a fun night, we still held a successful event by taking advantage of the resources we had. This February, I was able to attend the NFTY National Convention where I met people from all around the country. We participated in a beautiful virtual Havdalah service and attended a Dan Nichols concert without having to leave our houses!

Serving as communications vice president on the LIBERTY board this year means that part of my job is to create promotional videos and flyers that go on our Instagram (@libertytyg) for teens and parents to see. Though creating exciting programs is a major part of getting teens to come to our event, the way they find out about them is pretty important too. Since promotion can determine how many people hear about and attend our programs, I had to make sure that the flyers and videos we made would be eye-catching enough to make teens want to come to our events, even if it meant getting on another Zoom call.

Despite this being a challenging year, I am proud to have found so many new ways to creatively use technology to bring people together. We have used our resources to make the best of the situation and to create awesome programs for Charlotte’s Jewish teens. And although it was disappointing at the time, I know there are so many things I wouldn’t have done and people I wouldn’t have met if it weren’t for Zoom. But I’m ready for a break from screens!

Shayla Siegel is a freshman at Providence High School and is on the board of Temple Beth El’s youth group, LIBERTY, as communications vice president as well as a student at Hebrew High. In her free time, she loves to sing and do theater and she is currently in her school’s productionof Monty Python’s “Spamalot.”