Electronics Off

For Yom Kippur, I kept the electronics off, as I usually do.  No cell phone.  No laptop.  Not even big screen TV where by now I watch mostly YouTube with a small diversion for selected football, college and Eagles.  YK came out Wednesday to Thursday nights this year.  I had made a commitment to myself to leave the social media off through Sukkot, beginning a few days before.  Due to a glitch I had to return to FB momentarily, only to learn of the passing of friend's mother, a former neighbor and good friend of my mother, who had lived to advanced years.  I made a comment, sent a donation, then turned it off.  Rarely, postings from FB have significance.  They come randomly enough to make me reconsider my absolute hiatus.  Shofar blown, quick snack at synagogue to break the fast, then a more substantial feeding at home.  I opted not to check the electronics other than TV until the next morning.  After more consideration, FB, Reddit, and Twitter to stay fallow.

The following morning, I caught up on email.  Zero messages that needed attention.  Some notices from entities that I subscribe to, a single non-urgent message directed at me personally.  A lot of deletes from places trying to sell me something.  A few from places wanting donations.  Those organizations all had merit.  Some will get a share of my mandatory IRA withdrawal when I do it next month.  A few that should have been forwarded to phishing or spam, but not knowing for sure, they just got deleted.

Not looking at my email for Shabbos and yontif should resume as usual practice, as it once was.  By the afternoon past Yom Kippur, FB was already sending me notices of why I ought to sign back on.  All of it A Friend Posted.  Nada notification of a response to something I posted.  I understand that their financial fortunes depend on subscribers or other forms of suckers reading their personal feeds.  Almost none have the importance of a death notice.  People who really need to reach me have email.  Some think they have texting, though not true.  My text feeds are cluttered with Friends of Obama needing another $50.  Bringing their party, my party in a much more selected form, to even more profound ignominy does not benefit from my financial support.  I have doctors' offices texting me even though I asked on their intake forms not to be notified that way.  The only legitimate purpose for texting me seems to be to my confirm identity when dealing with one of my financial or government institutions, those where I have initiated the contact.

A number of prominent people have given themselves a weekly Sabbath from their smartphones.  Catherine Price wrote about this in her book on controlling omnivailability.  The late Charlie Kirk, for all the divergence of world view that I have with him, though I had not heard of him prior to his assassination, understood the value of a weekly cell phone break.  He chose the Jewish Sabbath.  I don't know why.  I do know why I would choose my Shabbos to set the electronics aside.  And our Festivals last two days.  When they span Thursday-Friday or Sunday-Monday, those electronics-free days extend to three days.  I've done this before.  FOMO never a social media concern.  When I turn email back on, I can expect enticements from FB in my messages.  Three day suspension is not long enough.  Better to commit to weeks.  At least on Reddit r/judaism I am helpful to people and on r/Jewish Cooking I learn things.  FB still has friends that I value sharing some element of their lives.  Twitter in its current form only has destructive value.

Now Jewish year 5786.  I do not do resolutions, either Jewish or secular calendar transitions.  Never more cheerful or tolerant, despite my best intent.  Some things I can do, including control of the electronics.  As yom tovim cluster, keeping the cell phone and email dormant seems part of the observance, along with shabbos.  Social media needs a broader assessment of control, probably in the form of rationing.  Leaving these platforms without access to respect the Jewish Holy Days seems easy.  Fitting them in appropriate places in a setting of limited but not zero merit takes a little more thought.

My YK experience, though, affirms the benefits of defined shut-downs.